Seeker

We've so ofte n seen it from the outside while travelling through the Inn valley in Austria. It's hard to miss the huge  onion-domed towers of the monastery at Stams. The palace-like building dominates the landscape for miles around. Yesterday we took a bus down to Innsbruck and then a short train journey to the village of Stams. This place is also famous as the location of the schigymnasium , an international school  specialising in ski-ing. But back to the monastery which we finally got to see inside. I felt the same about the great basilica in the monastery as I do about Blenheim Palace (more monument than family home). It is certainly impressive with some stunning works of art but not a place to inspire me to pray. In any case the only way to see it was as a guided tour and the scheduled tours that morning were all French language. This meant I had to give full attention to the guide who thankfully spoke French well with extremely clear diction. I would love to ...

What is a holiday for you? A change of scenery or routine? An escape from the usual? A break from work? I seem to have  taken an unplanned break from blogging. I just haven't felt like making the effort and other matters have had to take priority - not least grief and dealing with clearing my mother's home. Now I am on holiday and enjoying walking in the alps, good food and company. Yesterday my husband felt unwell so we decided not to go anywhere or do anything. He needed to rest and I was happy to stay put with him. This bothered him as a "waste of a day's holiday". My thought was that if you can't do nothing in a beautiful place on holiday then when can you rest.? After all what is a holiday for? Photo: my own - walking boots resting on the balcony