Friday Photo Shoot Out: Favorites

Today is the 1-year anniversary of the Friday My Town Shootouts, and the theme is Favorites.
Well, my favorite thing is of course taking a random trip somewhere, and last Saturday I did just that.
Hopped a train to Ussel, where they have a nice little park with a stream running through it and lit by a collection of lamps, every one different.
Old Ussel looks like many restored midieval french towns, with narrow cobbled streets, grey stone buildings, and slate roofs.

We arrived at noon, and promptly stopped for a hot lunch, but the shops don't open again until 2:30 or even 3 (if they haven't closed up for good - Ussel looks hard-hit by recession), giving the place a deserted look.

The historic district centers on the church, naturally.

Some of these old churches are real jewels.

Some of them are still painted from floor to ceiling, though not this one.

This one has modern stained glass in the windows

(many churches lost their fabulous windows in WW2)

There were two treats inside, one being this incredible carved and colored altar.

And the other being this statue of St Francis.
At least I think it was him. He's got doves.

I just like the way it's done, and the warm coloring. So many church statues are so cold and distant.

Outside there were plenty of cats.

Yeah, you.

The Botanical Garden & Park advertised a waterfall.

It falls in the shade, which was quite cold. The railing of the bridge was lined with icicles.

The stream feeding the falls joined a river.
If we'd had more time (and were slightly more warmly dressed!),it would have been nice to hike along the river out of the town and into the surrounding farmland.

But the last train back (which was actually a bus, and not a train like this, like we arrived on) was leaving at 4:20pm. Miss it and you're stuck.

So that was the outing to Ussel.

For more FSO Favorites, click here!

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