Seen from trambus: Pyramid

 

After passing under the railway you’ll be on Avenue Jean Jaurès, and this pyramid is the first statue you will see. No, the second. Before it you will see the bull statue.

Seen from trambus: another trambus

The trambus lanes are dedicated for trambusses, other busses and cars take other lanes. And the design, yep, it’s very round.

Seen from Trambus: Liberté

Coming to another trambus stop, Liberté. Behind is a brand new apartment building, and a lower building, which one day probably will have to go… But what is most interesting, is the shape of the man in the stop signal: it’s like a star!

Seen from the trambus: Le Colisée

 

The trambus route to Nîmes center goes between the apartment and office block Le Colisée, designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa. The (rather grey and dull) building is said to be inspired by the Arènes de Nîmes, and was built between 1989 and 1995.

Seen from the trambus: Nemausa swimming pool

Going towards the city center: after crossing the highway bridge, you will see the Nemausa swimming pool on your left. There, right behind the trees. In the building there are also two restaurants, and some offices. The stade nautique de Nemausa opened in 2007.

The trambus of Nîmes

The ending station of the Nîmes trambus is in front of the Arènes.

The trambus is a combination of – as you can guess from the name – a tram and a bus. No rails needed, looks like a long bus, but otherwise the concept comes from a tram. And having now tested it once (no, twice, I went back and forth), it works!

In my humble opinion, the route is much more clear than those of the busses. It’s also fairly fast, and also frequent (at least during the day). It’s not as silent as the modern trams, but it’s supposed to be more environment friendly – the tram bus doesn’t use gasoline or diesel, but electricity. The ride cost one euro, and you can purchase the ticket when entering. Just don’t forget to stamp it!

Some people of course criticize the meaning and the cost (79 million euros) of a new type of bus which has (so far) just one line. It circulates between the Arènes and the commercial centre near the highway entrance. New lines are planned, of course.

Well, I don’t say anything to that. Just that I liked my ride. I will post during the next few days a few pictures taken in and from the bus.

Side entrance of Jardins de la Fontaine

This is one of the side entrances of Jardins de la Fontaine. There are other ones on the other side of the gardens, but this one is the nearest when coming from the city center. The steps are, however, in a very bad shape, so its advisable to use one of the two main entrances.

This one is anyway close to the children’s playgrounds and also the square with the Lebanon cedar tree, and I find it quite handy.

Concrete wood railings

When you leave the square with the Lebanon cedar towards the side exit of Jardins de la Fontaine, you will take these steps down. The railings are not wood, despite the outlook, but concrete (béton in French). This was very popular and I guess a bit fashionable style in the 19th century, to imitate the nature with concrete structures. And what’s interesting, they do look like wood! Just that the colour is grey.

Armistice day

November 11th is a national holiday in France, marking the end of the first World War. Nowadays the armistice day is also known as the remembrance day, to commemorate all those who lost their lives in the country’s wars. Or, as it’s usually said, who sacrified their lives for the country.

After the horrors of the first world war people vowed that nothing like that would ever again happen. But then came the second world war. And after that dozens and dozens other wars around the world. Now we are only hoping that a third world war would not break…

The war memorial of Nîmes is located very near the arenes and the palais de justice, on a square named 11-Novembre-1918. It’s an open air crypt, and on the walls there are engraved the names of the 12 866 soldiers from Nîmes and the Gard, who were killed in the first world war. In 1950 were added the names of the soldiers killed in the second world war, and in 1999 the names of the 54 Nîmes’ soldiers killed in the North African war.

There will a ceremony held today, and flowers will be places on the middle of the mosaic floor, which itself is very beautiful. The memorial, known in French as Monument aux morts, is a design by Henri Castan, and was inagurated in 1923.

Names of the battles of 1st WW are written in the mosaic floor.

So many names of those killed…

The crypt is under ground, but open to the sky.

 

Nîmes’ courthouse

After a little break, again new pictures from Nîmes…

The courthouse of Nîmes, or Le Palais de justice, is located just next to the amphitheatre, facing Esplanade Charles-de-Gaulle. This is the main entrance, which, however, is hardly used. In fact, I’ve never seen the gates open. The actual entrance is on the other side of the building.

The Palais de justice was designed by architect Gaston Bourdon and built between 1836 and 1846. It’s easy to see that the edifice was largely inspired of the Maison Carrée. Nowadays the neoclassical building is listed as a historical monument.