Day 22 - Tuesday, February 18 - We revisit the Antigone neighborhood, walk up the Lez River, and have a "no spend" day.

Cloudy with sun breaks 58°F (14°C)

Today was mostly a "home day"; however we did get out for a walk to the Antigone (which we didn't fully explore last time), and we decided to go upstream along the river Lez this time.

Here's Jamil locking our door on our way out:

The courtyard is surrounded on all sides by buildings, and this is what it looks like looking directly upwards just outside the door (I might have gotten bored while Jamil was locking the door)

The Antigone is a giant corridor with large buildings on either side that are part of a project I wrote about earlier. Built in the early 1980s, the Antigone project represented a master plan to develop a new neighborhood along an axis between the town center and the river Lez.

From the design of the plazas to the details of the facades and exterior furniture and landscape elements, everything is proportionally and thematically related, creating a stylistic unity in a district full of boulevards and plazas, parks, major residential areas, shops, schools and sports, cultural and administrative facilities.

It really is a grand scale

There are shops along the ground floor, with offices and homes above.

Probably looks nicer when the trees are leafed out. There was one section that had evergreens lining the central walkway, which made it feel a little more "friendly".

Getting towards the river, it seemed to get even more grand:

There was a beautiful Greek statue of Diana

And beyond the giant archway was another huge courtyard bounded by apartments and shops with a central fountain.

The fountain was a bit weird, with several men naked from the waist up holding the bowl of the fountain.

Along the route, we also noticed a bike sticking out of the wall:

And this one was painted - a copy cat?

These art pieces - heck even the statue and the fountain we so out of scale with the buildings that we found it quite cold and imposing. It's possible that might be a factor of visiting in February, and it would feel different in a different season. But there were a few people around, so it wasn't deserted.

We passed by the giant swimming pool / Olympic facility again. Dang it's huge!

And then we were at the rive Lez.

This time, we turned north and headed upstream along the river bank. It's a bit ... sparse? We headed to the bridge:

When on the bridge, we looked upriver and noticed there was a paddling course on the river, though it's tricky to see in the pic.

On the bridge it was fun to look down and watch the water pass by.

Looking downriver, we could see some of the buildings of the Antigone on the other side of the river. So big and blocky!

Looking back up at the bridge we just crossed:

We sat for a minute and took a selfie to send to the sons:

As we headed back home, we spotted this little shop with some sage advice:

And we were back at the Place de la Comedie!