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| WWII German Submarine Base |
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| Lookout Tower, German Submarine Base |
The attempt to make the best of my few remaining weeks in
France led to an interesting day trip Wednesday to Saint Nazaire, France. The
last of the European cities to be liberated during WWII, what this city lacks
in aesthetic beauty it makes up for with interesting history. Completely
destroyed by bombs, the city rebuilt itself in practical, modern architecture… and uses the sole
part of its past to survive the bombs, the German submarine base, as a central
focal point. The tourist is bombarded with this giant concrete base from afar,
but upon closer examination can find inside the tourism office, a few souvenir
shops, some restaurants, and an interesting concert/events venue. We also saw plans for some shared public gardening space atop the base. You can enter
the submarine base to explore these shops, or stroll across the roof to
experience what was once the Germans’ birds-eye view of the port. Ironically at
this point we heard a siren (much like the tornado sirens in Ohio) and upon
returning to the tourism office learned that this is a test siren that happens
on the first Wednesday of every month ever since the war.
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| Submarines up close are not that photogenic |
Directly across from the German submarine base sits a real
once-active French submarine, open for tours. Tell me that isn’t awesome non?
Saint Nazaire was one of those places that I’m glad I saw, because I live
30 minutes away from it. But you leave the city feeling a little off. I just couldn’t get a grasp on how I felt after the day of exploring. The city itself is not your typical, charming, beautiful old
buildings kind of French city, which I have come to take for granted over here. I
admire their efforts to truly attempt to “mélange” the city’s darker history
with an image of growth and development from that history but I can’t tell if they’ve successfully done it.
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| View of the port from the lookout tower |
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