Autumn is here. Moody clouds and fiery leaves are conjuring memories of my trip to Germany last year and the spectacular hotel, Althoff Grandhotel Schloss Bensberg outside of Cologne. I highly recommend a stay there if fortune allows. The Bensberg Palace was completed in 1711, a stay at this beautiful old hotel, with it’s top-class service was fantastic, like being a guest at the palace in its heyday. The photo below was taken in the courtyard of the hotel on a fall day, the blue sky full of beautifully tattered clouds. Rain threatened but sun won the day, casting long shadows in golden light.