Hi Benson,
Is this your first time to France? If so, you may find that the first time you look at a VFR chart...it's RED! Almost the whole of the country is covered with restriced/prohibited areas due to military movement. However, the reason why I mentioned this first is because it's nothing to worry about! Most of the time, these are not active, and ATC tend to tell you when they are. You can also ask the local FIS provider if they are "cold" or not.
That out the way, you'll find France to be a very aviation orientated country, and a great pleasure to fly in. The ATC is top notch, the French ATC having very clear diction and being very proficient and helpful. If you get into trouble, in my experience, they are always glad to help you out. I was caught in IMC once over some terrain. A quick call to a local ATC unit and I was receiving vectors into a circtui at a near by airfield
Obviously, a flight plan needs filing etc, I won't go into too much detail about that as you may already know the score about flight plans.
Nantes...
You'll find the airfield to be very nicely situated. The city is close by and there's the river that runs through the central business district. The airfield offers a co-located VOR, so you shouldn't have any problems getting there, and the ATC are, like I say, nice! If it's not too busy, they will probably respond to your tap on the back with a simple "report airfield in sight" maybe with an altitude restriction due to airspace. They sometimes insist on the use of the reporting points. These are named according to there relative position to the airfield.
Having a look at the chart, Nantes has NE, NW, E, W...etc No prizes for guessing that they represent cardinal directions on the compass! Don't say "Transiting via North West"...."November Whisky" is the correct phraseology...but I'm sure you would of guessed that anyway.
QFE and QNH....They give this abbreviation using the phonetic alphabet ..."Gulf Oskar L'Echoooo Keebec Novembre 'Otel 1019" (yes, you can expect to here it like that too, just thought I'd add the realistic phraseology!). They are very polite tho and fun to speak to.
I think that just covers it. Enjoy your trip, let us know how you get on
Cheers
Obk