Gilbert - A Trip to Germany: A Visit to a Monastery

 

Yes, I disappeared in the middle of a series of posts, but according to Sullivan that's just heightening the anticipation. (We might also have been preoccupied by Mass Effect important things.

On Thursday the sun was shining in the morning, so we had breakfast outside, and played around in the garden.

We relaxed and read some more, and Diana made us a yummy snack: a pastry with brie and pecans.

At the end of the afternoon we went to a trip to a monastery that was supposed to have a cool shop. On our way there I spotted a fountain and cool church.

It had a cool tower as well.

It was raining so I didn't take a lot of pictures sadly enough.

When we reached the monastery shop we were early so we visited the Maria chapel.

We lit a candle for good health.

There was a path with art that depicted the story of the crucifixion. I'm not sure what part of the story this is...

The monastery shop wasn't as interesting as we hoped, but I did buy yummy candies.

Next to the shop there was a labyrinth!

It had the perfect height for me, but my owner didn't want to go crawling through it, especially as it had rained again and it was very wet.

In the evening I got a Zombie cocktail!

It was another fun day!

Coming next: Lots of churches.

Gilbert - A Trip to Germany: Fountains, Geese and Another Castle

 

There was a cool fountain in the park.

There was water running into the fountain from a small stream. We decided to follow it. It led to another fountain and even further.

This goose was parading around, looking he meant business.

It turned out he was making sure people wouldn't bother his mate who was sitting on a nest. A friendly elderly man told us she was sitting on seven eggs!

The final fountain!

Next we decided to have a look at another castle. There was a big tower there as well.

Castle Styrum was first built in the 11th century and had a royal court. I must say it didn't look that old to me, so I guess it has been remodeled quite a bit.

I spotted an older building in the distance.

Egh, I couldn't reach it for a better picture.

There was a cool pond in the garden.

And a creepy statue.

There were also these creepy kids.

Another try to get close to the old building. This was the best I could do.

As the weather was getting more dark and rainy we decoded to travel back to Diana's home. We had both rain and sun on the way back. 

We spotted the squirrel again, but he was ignoring us.

Next: garden fun

Gilbert - A Trip to Germany: Castel Broich and More

Castle Broich was build in 883/884 to defend against Vikings. There were extra buildings build later as well of course.

I think this one is newer than the 9th century.

We spotted yet another stone from Mona in an old door.

The museum in the castle was closed, but we could explore the courtyard.

I climbed on top of a look out tower to get an even better view.

Panorama Picture taken on top of the look out tower.

Diana found another stone and this one had a piggy on it!

There was an excavation of the oldest part of the castle, but we couldn't get close to it.

We went for a walk and saw City Hall.

It had a scary fish fountain.

The river Ruhr.

There was a park next to City Hall and we found another stone, this one was a really big one.

There were ducks in the park. This one came over to see if we had any bread for her.

Next: another castle

 

Gilbert - A Trip to Germany: Relaxing and Weird Stones

On Tuesday it was a very rainy day. Once it seemed dry we went grocery shopping. I managed to take this picture in Diana's garden.

It soon started raining again, so not a lot of photo opportunities. I did spot these straw chickens though.

It didn't look like it was getting any better, so we stayed inside once we returned from the shopping trip.

I tried the first few chapters of some of Diana's books to see if I could find something that Sullivan or Voodoo Bride might like. It was another fun and relaxing evening.

On Wednesday we drove to Mülheim an der Ruhr to visit castle Broich.

We spotted a stone with a bird on it!

We investigated of course. 

The stone was part of a project called 'Pottsteine'. People paint on stones and leave them somewhere to bring some joy to other people's day. Sounds like the Lost Art from Beanie. How fun!

Soon we found another one. A crocodile. This one was also by the same artist, called Mona.

More about our visit to castle Broich tomorrow.