Roaming around Kassel

This is a post I started back in July that continued the story of our spring break adventures.  After spending a week with the Herths in southern Germany, we took the train up to Kassel and met up with Annelie for a Waldorf teachers conference on the 11th grade...

Although the conference days were packed with seminars and classes, there was still time to explore the city of Kassel.  One day after lunch Mike and I took the 10 minute walk from the Waldorf school to the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, a 590 acre park built on a mountain slope.  The park includes a castle; an English garden; an artificial ruin called Löwenburg (Lions Castle); a Roman aqueduct; and a water garden of beautiful ponds, fountains, waterfalls, and bridges.  At the top of the mountain stands the Hercules Monument which has Hercules posing on top of the Octagon and Cascades.

The entire park was astoundingly beautiful.

The Elector of Hesse, William I had planned for the entire park to be overrun with artificial waterfalls and cascades.

Here the Wilhelmshöhe Schloss (used as an art museum today ) is peeking through the trees.

More beauty.

Neat architecture.

A view of the castle from higher up the mountain.

And here, even further up (can you imagine the workout we were getting?).

Interesting horticulture.

The Bergpark is open free to the public, so citizens of Kassel take their dogs on walks here, go for a stroll with their friends, or do their daily jogging in the gorgeous surroundings every day.

The Devil's Bridge.

The entire park was very peaceful and calming. 

Here is a view of Hercules in all of his glory.  Our first thought upon seeing the monument was, "Just our luck.  Construction and renovations."

Here you can see the very base of the Octogon.  The size of the entire structure is beyond impressive.

Neptune hiding out in his cool lair in the background.

Then up the stairs we went...

There was a long way to go.

The first landing on the Octagon and Cascades had statues of more gods, mythical creatures, and beautifully decorated benches.

 

Another view of Hercules.

Normally the cascades are running with water.  We'd love to go back to see that some day.

An incredible bird's-eye-view of Kassel.

Encountering more construction.

Pan peeking through the mayhem.

We're sweaty and tired, but high above Kassel!

Incredible view.

Finally we are as close to Hercules as we can get .

A closer look at the architecture of the base.

Information on the original building of the monument and the construction.

There was supposed to have been a bus that could have taken us all the way back down, but we couldn't seem to find a schedule or a bus stop for it.  Needing to get back to the seminar, we traced our hike all the way back.  Going down did not take nearly as long as going up.  We passed the Löwenburg ruins on the way.  It was tempting to stop and take pictures, but we had to save it for another day.