What's a man to do?
When your host has a friend at Mercedes and he hands you the keys to a E200, points you to the autobahn, there is only one thing for it - put your foot down! meanwhile Trace and Elisabeth sat in the back drinking a Piccolo of Champagne each. Bliss all around.
I drove to a local lake created when a dam was built on the river and used to make hydro electricity. This dam had been blown during the war, not sure if it was by the famous 'Dam Busters'. After the dam I drove to 'Herkules' which is a statue in nearby Kassel and was built in 1696. Below the statue of Herkules is a series of ponds, cascades and fountains that is all gravity fed and quite brilliant for it's time. Unfortunately they only turn the water on Wednesdays and Sundays, so it was dry for us. but still looked fairly spectacular - despite the scaffolding.
We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch here before driving into town and unfortunately it was time to return the Mercedes.
After getting back into Jurgen's car we went to the Orangerie. The Orangerie is a planetarium, but we were more interested in the outside of the building and the surrounding gardens.
We walked through the gardens down to the river, then circled around and walked into the main street of Kassel. Kassel was a fair bit bigger than we expected and has quite a network of trams, with about 8 different lines. Several of those come down the main street and 2 head out to Kaufungen.
For dinner we went to a Bavarian restaurant and part way through the meal Laura and her boyfriend Chris surprised us by turning up. We weren't expecting them until much later that night. Chris has excellent English and spent about 9 months in Australia recently.
Friday 16/05 and we had a lazy morning, just chatting with everybody. Around midday we headed out and went to see Willemshohe, which was a palace from the late 17th Century. It was built around the same time as Herkules and sits near the base of the fountains from Herkules. We walked around these gardens and then did a tour of Loewenburg castle, which also sits in the grounds. The guide here spoke only German and was getting annoyed that people were whispering whilst she was talking - but it was mainly Americans who couldn't understand her and were talking amongst themselves or Laura or Chris interpreting for us. After the first room, Chris offered to translate for the whole group, so after the guide spoke he gave a quick run down. It was much appreciated by the non German speakers.
After a very pleasant walk we went back home for a BBQ tea. Jurgen had another surprise for me though as we went via a Ferrari dealership on the way. Again he knew the owner - though not well enough to get me a drive :( We did look around the showroom though and there was a very rare LaFerrari - one of only 500 to be built. These are worth 1.136 Million Euros and to be 'allowed' to buy one you must have owned 5 previous Ferrari's and currently own one.
We had a fun evening drinking, chatting and laughing, but knew it was bitter sweet as it was the end of our stay with Jurgen and Elisabeth who were incredibly generous thoughtful hosts.
I drove to a local lake created when a dam was built on the river and used to make hydro electricity. This dam had been blown during the war, not sure if it was by the famous 'Dam Busters'. After the dam I drove to 'Herkules' which is a statue in nearby Kassel and was built in 1696. Below the statue of Herkules is a series of ponds, cascades and fountains that is all gravity fed and quite brilliant for it's time. Unfortunately they only turn the water on Wednesdays and Sundays, so it was dry for us. but still looked fairly spectacular - despite the scaffolding.
We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch here before driving into town and unfortunately it was time to return the Mercedes.
After getting back into Jurgen's car we went to the Orangerie. The Orangerie is a planetarium, but we were more interested in the outside of the building and the surrounding gardens.
We walked through the gardens down to the river, then circled around and walked into the main street of Kassel. Kassel was a fair bit bigger than we expected and has quite a network of trams, with about 8 different lines. Several of those come down the main street and 2 head out to Kaufungen.
Friday 16/05 and we had a lazy morning, just chatting with everybody. Around midday we headed out and went to see Willemshohe, which was a palace from the late 17th Century. It was built around the same time as Herkules and sits near the base of the fountains from Herkules. We walked around these gardens and then did a tour of Loewenburg castle, which also sits in the grounds. The guide here spoke only German and was getting annoyed that people were whispering whilst she was talking - but it was mainly Americans who couldn't understand her and were talking amongst themselves or Laura or Chris interpreting for us. After the first room, Chris offered to translate for the whole group, so after the guide spoke he gave a quick run down. It was much appreciated by the non German speakers.
After a very pleasant walk we went back home for a BBQ tea. Jurgen had another surprise for me though as we went via a Ferrari dealership on the way. Again he knew the owner - though not well enough to get me a drive :( We did look around the showroom though and there was a very rare LaFerrari - one of only 500 to be built. These are worth 1.136 Million Euros and to be 'allowed' to buy one you must have owned 5 previous Ferrari's and currently own one.
We had a fun evening drinking, chatting and laughing, but knew it was bitter sweet as it was the end of our stay with Jurgen and Elisabeth who were incredibly generous thoughtful hosts.
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