There is nothing more exciting than doing something on your own and actually accomplishing your goal. I had this exact feeling while sitting on the bus home from Tubingen yesterday. I decided that I was going to see the Bebenhausen monastery and castle yesterday and boy am I glad that I did. I left quite early yesterday morning and took the train into town where I then had to find a map and start the trek to the monastery. It was a three mile hike each way to get to the city of Bebenhausen, and needless to say my poor little feet are yelling at me today. On the way I stumbled upon a musician practicing organ in the city church and some awesome little shops as well as Tubingen University and some fantastic river views.
The hike was gorgeous and everything here is so green. I followed a little river on my way to the city and did more of a deep forest hike on the way back. The Germans are big bikers and many many a biker passed me on the river trail. When I emerged from the woods this was the beautiful sight that I had.
Who wouldn't be breathless with this view. I walked into town and bought my tickets to get into the monastery and for a castle tour at noon. The monastery was so serene and was very old. The monastery itself was built in 1160 and the castle was the monastery guest house the housed King Wilhelm II and Queen Charlotte until both of their respective deaths. The castle is in the heart of hunting country and thus is all decked out in deer and animal mounts that the king, queen, and guests had killed themselves. On the tour there was only one other German couple. So, the tour guide being pretty good in English and a college kid probably about my age would give the German tour and explanations for everything and then would give me the English cliff notes version.
After such a long day and putting over 8 miles of walking on my poor feet I of course had to get an ice cream cone on the walk home from the train station to the dorms. Last night my international friends in my dorm took three of us girls out to our first European clubbing experience. O my gosh was that an experience. Nothing that I need to do every weekend but the guys were so fun and we had a blast dancing for hours on end in three different themed rooms which were all jammed pack.
Yesterday taught me a lot. It taught me to do what I want to do. Looking back it was also probably one of the days that will stand out to me the most because I did so much reflection and it was nice to be surrounded by nothing but the sounds of the birds and little creatures in the leaves. It was nice to be me and have no one else to answer to or to please.
I'm heading off to a Reutlingen soccer match...
Auf Wiedersehen
Chels
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