Bebenhausen

(This post is sooo late. Apologies!)

Our first Friday we took an amazing hike to the nearby village and monastery Bebenhausen. It is completely gorgeous! We hiked down from where we all live in the W.H.O. neighborhood -- a lot of our walk was through some gorgeous forest trails that are easily accessible from my dorm. Then we rounded a corner and saw the amazing view:

The monastery was fascinating and gorgeous. Originally built in the 1180s, there have been of course a variety of renovations and constructions. It has been a Catholic monastery, a Protestant monastery, and a hunting lodge. Also, at one point, it served as the location of the town council and government. Today, it is a museum and its main chapel is a fully-functioning church.

Here is the passageway around the

perimeter: to the inside is the garden, and on the outside are stairs to the various rooms (chapel, dormitories, etc.).

This angel is on the ceiling in the room that became the meeting place of the local government:

Another gorgeous room:

After the monastery, we stopped for some Radler as a whole school.

Later, most people took the bus back (Bebenhausen is at the bottom of a hill, so the return walk is less fun), but I walked back with a group of friends and then we went out for a delicious Swabian dinner.

der erste Samstag

Today has been lovely! After Ane came back from her choir rehearsal, we went for a glorious walk. First we stopped at the most adorable French café that is just around the corner from Ane's house. (I ordered an orange juice - it was so warm, I couldn't imagine having a tea or coffee. We also shared a lemon tart, which was AMAZING.) We browsed in their sweet little store, and got a few chocolate eggs (in real eggshells).

And then, a walk! It is a GORGEOUS day here, and we went around looking at all the little blossoms and whatnot. We did a loop of part of the town, and this lovely pond:

Afterwards, Ane made green sauce, and I observed. Here is the recipe from the package (Ane does not need it and also has her own edits to it):

Here is Ane cooking:

And here is the result, a late lunch (since I had breakfast at 11:30!) of hard-boiled eggs and potatoes in green sauce. Yum!

The best part of waking up

is butterbrezel on your plate!!!

So I slept from 9:30 pm until 11:30 am (and I still feel tired! maybe a shower will help). Anyway, Ane has choir rehearsal this morning from 10:30 until something. When I woke up, there was a full breakfast spread for me, including a note from Ane :





Yum!

Photographic proof

that I am here in beautiful Germany. :)

I went for a short walk to the local park, Viktoriapark. It is warm enough that I wore just jeans and a sweater! I hope the weather continues like this or gets warmer - nothing colder please! There were small flowers in the fields in the park, which were so pretty. The fresh air was great, and so was the feeling of going for a walk all by myself in another country. That's a first step and before you know it I'll be doing all sorts of independent things! Yay! Also, I spoke one German word to someone ("entschuldigung"). Go me!

Later, Ane came home from work and made dinner (a delicious salad and ravioli with cream sauce, yum). We had a lovely conversation and meal, and now she is at choir rehearsal and I am making myself stay up for another 30 minutes before bed-time! Go Laura!

So here are some photos : me, in Viktoriapark, on a bench that Peter and I took photos at last summer (yeah, yeah, I look a little tired...one hour of sleep!):

One of my favorite views - out the kitchen window:

The desk from which I am blogging:

My next destination - my cozy bed!