Garonne

If some days ago someone had asked me "hey, have you seen that beautiful fountain representing la Garonne and its four tributaries?" I would have said: "hum, I think there's nothing like that in Toulouse" (obviously as I tend to walk along its riverside several days per week I firstly associate la Garonne with my city). Then I would have thought about Bordeaux and said, "I don't think the astonishing set of sculptures in Bordeaux depicts la Garonne". When my questioner had told me "no, no, I'm talking about Lyon", I would have quite laughed loud and said "come on, learn some geography, it'll be a tribute to the Rhone or the Saône then".

He would have to show me this Wikipedia article to convince me that such incredible sculpture in Lyon (by the way, I had no idea it had been made by the creator of the Statue of Liberty) has anything to do with a river totally unrelated to that city. The French wikipedia article says:

Elle représente la Garonne et ses 4 affluents.

Reading the article you'll find that it was initially designed for Bordeaux, so the thing makes sense. However, the English article reads:

The fountain depicts France as a female seated on a chariot controlling the four great rivers of France.

So I guess when Lyon's city council decided to buy the statue they had to adapt its meaning to fit its final host, and well, the idea of the 4 rivers of France (Rhone, Loire, Garonne and Seine I guess) is a pretty valid explanation.

This short post is a nice excuse to publish this pic I took this winter in Prairie des Filtres, the so cute and charming river park of Toulouse

and also this night shot taken from Bazacle