Oh boy… if these walls could talk. They do. You can put your hand on them and feel all the way back to the early days, when it was a monastery (not a hotel and spa). I love stone walls because they tell a lot of tales. I also like the neat, ordered, structured lines of austere and ascetic religious buildings (like Quaker style simplicity).

What I perhaps find most interesting here are the windows. It is there to let in light, to see the heavens – perhaps – but whoever dwells within has absolutely zero desire to see either views or the neighbours. Many days I can relate. Just me and my work and no way for anyone to interrupt.

Was it not for the fanatical adherence to doctrine, celibacy, self flagellation and lack of chocolates – I might have been a good monk.

Come to think of it – the strictest of rules were seldom followed in reality.

That’s the problem with taking the whole religion thing too seriously. If you really and actually believe – it’s hard to be religious.