I can’t stop, i’m on a roll, there are only a few more abbey photos and i feel i must post them in order to have closure on this day.
this was a special grove of REALLY REALLY OLD TREES. i can’t remember how old, but i do remember that they were endangered so there were lots of chain barriers and warnings NOT TO GET TOO CLOSE TO THE TREES.
we hadn’t seen any tour buses because we stumbled up to the abbey taking the back way, but then we saw them filling the parking lot, and i had to document it. and then kevin had to document me documenting it.
this was some kind of serenity pool fountain thing, but i bet the monks used it for a swimming pool.
the brochure kept going on and on about this pavilion and the fabulous english-style gardens, bu it wasn’t as impressive as the buildup, especially after the abbey itself was so grand. the gardens at the huntington library in pasadena are much more extensive and cool. but this place wasn’t bad.
here’s a photo kevin took as we were winding our way down from the abbey.
we managed to make it out of town after climbing a very very steep hill where i had to get off my bike and push, but kevin made it to the top. whew. we weren’t on the bike path, but somehow we managed to find the bridge across. and boy were we happy when we did, because it was completely downhill from there.
we passed people struggling up the bridge, and were so happy to be coasting our way across the river to emmersdorf, the tiny town where we’d be staying the night.
we literally coasted right into the town after getting off the bridge. this was sunday september, our actual one-year anniversary, and we were hoping the hotel would be nice.
we weren’t disappointed.
more later.
BUT NOT LATER TONIGHT.
ok ok ok already,
too busy grace.