Today we did an activity that had to be done today, Wednesday, because it only happens on Wednesdays and Sundays. Happily, the morning was dry and not too dark. The sky even showed occasional streaks of blue.
Our target was Wilhelmshöhe, a huge Schloss outside of Kassel, 120km away to the west.
This stately residence was built in the 17th century by the Landgrave Carl. (What's a Landgrave? A nobleman, equal to a Count in English.) The residence has two parts: an immense but rather attractive palace set at the foot of a hill, and a large park rising up the hill behind the palace.
At the top of the hill is an octagonal structure topped by a huge statue of Hercules. This is visible from miles away, for example when going through the traffic in Kassel.
The octagon at the top of the ridge, with a spire topped by Herc.
Can you not see Hercules atop the spire in that picture? OK, here he is up closer.
Imagine him beaming down benignly on all that follows.
The front of the Schloss, in a rare sun gleam.
The Octagon and Hercules from a Schloss window, and garden below.
The Schloss has highly decorated apartments that can be seen on a guided tour, but we skipped those. (Once you've seen the apartments of Charlottenburg, Sans Souci, HerrenInsel, and Linderhof, you feel you have a pretty good grasp of interior decoration styles of the 1700s.) However, the Landgrave was an art collector, and the Schloss is home to a gallery of Old Masters from his collection. We walked through that, looking at works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Hals, Van Dyke, and others. Lots of big handsome portraits of fat Dutch merchants. Biblical scenes with agony; mythical scenes with chubby women ogled by satyrs.
However, the main point of this visit was the water show. The central feature of the Schlosspark is a huge series of water, um, events. Fountains and cascades and pools. The centerpiece is a series of cascades that start at the Octagon and run down the hill.
No water yet, not until 2:30.
Wednesday and Sunday at 2:30pm they turn on the water for an hour. People come from miles around to see it, and to follow the water on its course down the hill.
To see it you have to climb a rather high and steep hill. So after lunch in the museum cafe, we slogged up the hill and stationed ourselves. Right at 2:30, the first fountain started just below the Octagon.
The Octagon, being restored, is swathed in plastic behind the heads of the water-watchers.
Water starts to spill over the first cataracts.
And people start running down the 500+ steps to keep up with it.
The steps of the central cascade are flat sheets of stone with beveled edges. The outer cascades are just flat steps. Kids play chicken with the advancing water at each step.
Click through for details.
At several points along the way there are pools. Here the water is just reaching a pool.
We love reflections.
We were rooting for this kid to be washed over, but he made it out.
When the water reaches the bottom of the cascade it falls into a bigger pool.
Then the crowd, several hundred strong by now, heads off through the woods to the next place the water will bust out.
Adults stroll, kids run and holler.
Next spot where everyone waits with anticipation is the Steinhöfer Wasserfall. Do those rocks look familiar, Californians?
Looks suspiciously like theft or a copy from Devil's Postpile National Monument.
After a few minutes and some adjusting of a weir by a groundskeeper, the fall starts.
Then everybody hoofs it off through the woods to the next spot, the Teufelsbrücke (Devil's Bridge), a quaint bridge over a miniature chasm. And a few minutes later, the wasser falls.
The last location is the Fountain Pool in front of the Schloss.
Right on schedule (with the help of a groundskeeper) the main fountain bursts forth, 40meters (130 feet) high.
We had a lot of fun going up the hill and chasing the water down along with the crowd of (mostly) Germans. Some cute little girls were pursuing a class project of interviewing English speakers and were accosting everyone who looked as if they might speak English, and we got interviewed by them while waiting for the water. Dogs barked, kids ran in circles, zillions of pixels were exposed in hundreds of cameras. All in all it was a pretty good show.
We got home and immediately went out for what proved to be a very good supper at a brewery restaurant. David sampled the Goslar beer, which has the Golden Pigeon (excuse us, Eagle) on its label. Not as good as Augustiner.
Tomorrow, Brockenfell or Bust.
You are seeing some beautiful and interesting places.
ReplyDeleteNo rain for us, but a week of very hot days - around 100° in the p.m., but nights have been fairly comfortable. Fog is due in tomorrow and will cool us down.
We watered your plants today. All is well at your place. The stack of unopened mail is growing, but nothing looks very exciting.