Boo & Toiny go to Bebenhausen!

Last week Boo (Booland Designs) from the UK and Julie (Julie C Designs) from Australia came to visit Germany! I have worked with both of them for 9+ years now. I met them when they mentored me as a new, fledgling Designer in the 2007 Stone Accents Designer contest. Shortly after I became a Designer here at Stone Accents, and shortly after that I became the owner of Stone Accents (now The Studio).

During all those years they’ve stuck by side, been my friends, my partners in crime, and support when I need it the most. It is truly amazing how close you can become to another person with only a computer to hold you together. I will admit to a few tears being shed when I held each of them in my arms, my really real arms, for the very first time. There is something magical about that kind of first.

Our first night together we stayed up till the early hours of Sunday morning, a bottle of wine, American taco soup, snacks and all the giggles & babbles we could possibly fit in such a very short time. I haven’t stayed up that late for many years. I went to bed with a smile on my face.

Sadly poor Julie got sick the second day, all the travel, all the way from Australia, plus our little house on the top of a little mountain, did her in. We tucked her in, gathered flu remedies & teas, mothered over her and clucked like worried chickens. Julie was well enough to be left home alone, but not well enough to accompany us on our explorations of Germany.  Boo & I headed out to a nearby monastery. One I’d never been to, and one I can’t wait to visit again.

Bebenhausen Monastery and Palace, was a Cistercian monastery located in the village of Bebenhausen (now a district of Tübingen), in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was built by Rudolph I, Count Palatine of Tübingen, probably in 1183. After the Reformation the abbey buildings were used at various times as a school, a 19th-century hunting palace for the kings of Württemberg. It is simply breath-taking. And closed on Mondays. Because. Of course it was.

Luckily Boo & I could walk around the Monastery, mostly side-by-side, both with cameras in front of our faces, taking pictures of this incredibly beautiful & peaceful spot. We even hiked out of the monastery walls, through the snow, me carefully stepping in Boo’s deep footprints to attempt to keep my feet dry (I have a broken toe & snowboots do not fit). It was a glorious afternoon. I thoroughly enjoyed the quiet of sight-seeing with another adult. The companionship of another photographer, who understands my need to stand in hidden corners and take photo’s at weird angles and see the world through the lens. Patiently.

The only thing that would’ve made the afternoon better was Julie at our side, luckily she home waiting for us and sitting up and happy to join us for dinner and chat away (but this time, bed was at a reasonable hour LOL!).

Walking into the Monastery from the side entrance.

Statue outside the walls with a hint of sunlight. Gorgeous day!

Bits of the town around the monastery. It’s like a fairytale!

Inside the walls, discovering tours are closed on Mondays 🙁

Turns out we are up above an empty moat!

Me on the moat bridge, photographing Boo… Boo photographing me LOL!

Gorgeous doors, masonry & architecture

I love doors & vines

and I love lamps & lights!

I’m coming back in spring. I think these flower.

Outside the walls. In the snow.

Hi Boo!

Boo showing off her winter wear outside of this gorgeous monastery!

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