“A street named after a city?” you might ask, eyebrows raised in curiosity. You’re standing before Rue de Nantes, tucked away in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. But why Nantes? The answer, my friends, lies hidden in the annals of Parisian history, in the days when horse-drawn carriages ruled the cobbled streets. Before the metro, before the iconic green buses, Parisians relied on a curious invention: the omnibus. And where did this omnibus originate? You guessed it – Nantes! This revolutionary “carriage for all,” as its Latin name translates, was the brainchild of Stanislas Baudry. In 1826, Baudry, already a successful businessman, launched the first urban transit service in Nantes. He soon expanded to other cities, and finally, in 1828, the omnibus arrived in Paris. Imagine the scene – horse-drawn carriages lumbering down the boulevards, picking up passengers with a wave of a hand. The Rue de Nantes stands as a quiet testament to this forgotten era, a time when Paris was taking its first steps towards the modern metropolis we know today.
Église Notre-Dame de l’Air
Beneath what appears to be a simple stone and wood structure lies a history interwoven with faith aviation and community.