Over the Christmas Holidays I had the chance to spend some time with the in-laws at the Dutch/German border in Nordrhein Westfalen. Now as a “Bavarian” by Birth and a Berliner by choice, id say there is no more awkward place to end up than Nordrhein Westfalen. Its flat and there’s a lot of nature, but it feels a lot more grey. Hey – that sounds just like Berlin. Yeah… but no. Nevertheless its a nice quiet place to get away from it all and relax.

Both of the misses parents are Veterinarians – her father (the Prof. Dr. Dr.) is a specialist in the field of ophthalmology  (eyes) on horses (and other large animals) while her mother (the Dr.) is specialized on small animals. They invited me to have a snoop around the clinic they work in, and I immediately jumped at the chance – how often do you get to check out an MRI Machine for horses? A short drive through the countryside and we arrived at the Tierärztliche Klinik Domäne Karthaus in Dülmen. Turns out that the Animal Clinic is  situated in a small 15th century village with a castle, monastery and church. Actually, the whole Clinic IS the 15th Century Village.  If history is your kind of thing, then this place is choc full of it.

Despite being located between anywhere and nowhere, the clinic attracts a small crowd of architecture lovers. The former monastery stable – which is still used as such (just without the monks) – houses the oldest brick -groinvault in all of Westfalia. With it being the holiday season, the clinic seemed fairly quiet. There were a few horses in the stables and a very sad-looking ginger cat was being treated for a bladder issue.

I quite enjoyed snooping around the clinic – especially the Horse Section. Horses are rather odd animals, and being a city person my personal contact with them has been rather rare. They radiate a weird aura. So here are a few impressions of my stroll through the Clinic.

For more Pictures of the Tierklinik – feel free to check out the Flickr Album: Tierärztliche Klinik Domäne Karthaus