As Seen in Kassel, Germany

img_0175I am not a typical traveler. Neither are my friends and Hubby, apparently. We don’t all go in for seeing all of the must-see sights at a particular place. We’re more amble around, take-it-all-in, see-what-you-can-see types. We travel together because we like each others’ company. We have fun together. We laugh a lot. We all like good food and drinks, too, so we tend to eat well and drink more than we probably should. Seeing cool stuff along the way is more of a bonus than the ultimate goal.

That being said, Kassel wasn’t a complete disappointment (see my previous post), it was just okay. The park and fountain were cool, but the city itself didn’t really excite us. Of course, it’s being compared to other places we visited during this particular tour, like Prague, Vienna, and Salzburg. Compared to Detroit, Kassel is awesome!

Hubby and I really enjoy seeing the old buildings in European cities. There weren’t a whole lot of old buildings in Kassel’s downtown because it was 90% destroyed by bombs in WWII. The place wasn’t as picturesque as it might have been, but there was still some interestingness to behold.

Like the Man Walking to the Sky sculpture.

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Yves and Mike enjoying a bit of art.

 

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Random Graffiti

 

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Church Steeple across from our hotel.

 

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Rathaus (town hall), which was rebuilt after the war.

There was nothing else particularly notable, just some things that caught my eye. Like these interesting buildings…

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Drug Store

 

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Hotel (maybe a rent-by-the-hour sort)

 

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Caricatura (museum? school of cartoons? not sure…)

 

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I like the façade of the building on the right.

 

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No idea what is housed here.

Oh, and a couple of nice shots from the park that I should have shared in yesterday’s post.

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Weeping Evergreen?

I found this weeping-type evergreen tree fascinating both for the type of tree and the amount of moss and lichen growing on the trunk and branches.

I guess Kassel is a wet place. There was lots of moss, lichen, ferns, and other shady forest-loving growths on many trees, stone walls, buildings, etc.

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See the face? Just left of the center of the image.

You may need to click on the image above for a closer look. The face jumped right out at me when I saw those rocks.

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Vintage Way-Finding Sign

And that’s it for Kassel. Next up, the Czech Republic.

A Less-Than-Exciting Start

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Pretty Sunrise

Annelies and I work together when planning joint trips like the one we just completed. She selected our first overnight destination and I approved it. We both thought it would be cooler than it actually was.

We’d both agreed that the bergpark, which was recently designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, would be a nice, relaxing place to visit. I’d assumed “bergpark” meant something like “large city park.”

I should have read more closely AND translated that particular word from German to English. As it turns out, a bergpark is a MOUNTAIN park. Mountain parks aren’t relaxing. A stroll up and down the hills of a mountain park could — and did! — make for an exhausting first day.

When I opened my eyes on Sunday, I was greeted by the scene pictured at right. We’d slept with our hotel windows wide open since there was no A/C, which is the norm at hotels in older buildings throughout Europe. It sure looked like it might be a pretty day, despite the forecast for clouds and rain.

By the time we’d finished breakfast, however, the clouds had moved in. The rain started right around the time we reached the park. We had umbrellas, rain gear, and an “it’s all part of the adventure” outlook, so we pressed on.

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Annelies and I, happily optimistic as we waited for the bus.
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Map and Explanation

In the park, is a big-ass fountain — aka water feature — which dates back to the 17th century. If you’d like more details, click the image on the right.

It really is very big. Since we’d arrived early — about 40 minutes before the buses started running — we decided to start walking up the hill instead of waiting for the bus.

The hill was pretty steep. It wasn’t long before we wisely decided to descend back to the bus stop where we’d started and wait for a bus to take us to the top.

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You can barely see the Hercules statue atop the hill.

The first part of the water feature is situated at the base of the Hercules statue, which you can barely see through the clouds in the image shared above. You can see it a little better in the next shot.

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Annelies admiring the view.

There’s a palace building behind where Annelies is standing, which wasn’t all that impressive, in my opinion. But I did like the lion.

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Lion statue in need of power washing.

There was lots of moss and lichen throughout the park. I’ll share some pics of that in a later post.

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Guys reading about the fountain at the Visitors’ Center.

There was a Visitors’ Center in or near the base of the Hercules statue. I never did figure out why Hercules was the figure selected to adorn the top of the mountain, but then I didn’t try very hard.

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Hercules

You can see that palace building I mentioned earlier in the next image.

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View obscured by low-hanging clouds.

The water feature, which I will just call a fountain from here on because it’s easier, really is quite big.

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One of several tiers/levels of the cascade.

I tried to capture images that would show the scale.

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Looking down from top to where Annelies (wearing a white jacket) stood on the next level.

Behind Annelies, toward the upper left of the image above, is where the tiered cascades start.

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A close-up look at one of the tiers.

 

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The view cleared as I descended.

You know it’s a big hill when you get below the clouds as you descend!

I wasn’t impressed by the statues, which I found to be more like yard art (they are!) than museum-quality sculptures.

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Fountain Statues

The water in the pools was sort of dirty, too. But then, it is recirculated through 300-year-old pipes twice every week, May through September.

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Nice Reflection

Notice that the statue in the image above is a trumpeter? Remember that, okay?

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One of MANY goofy group selfies.

 

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Yves, descending the stairs beside the cascade.

We reached the pool at the bottom of the cascade, which is supposedly the best viewing spot, at least an hour, maybe more, before the water was scheduled to be released. So we decided to have lunch and/or drinks while we waited.

It was really starting to cloud-up by that point, which is why the next image is so dark and grainy.

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Grainy Group Selfie

 

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Hubby and me, enjoying a German wheat (weizen) beer.

It may have rained a bit while we enjoyed our refreshments, but we were seated under an umbrella and didn’t care. Afterward, we headed back to the pool.

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Skies appeared to be clearing again.

We were all amazed to see how many people had shown up since we’d left the pool earlier. And there was still about 30 minutes left to wait!

Unfortunately, while we waited, rain started to pour. There may have even been some thunder. Our happy outlook was definitely starting to wane.

Looking a bit miserable, weren't they?
Looking a bit miserable, weren’t they?

But we toughed it out.

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The water was finally released!

Look how many people were lining the sides of the cascade. As the water started to flow, it sounded like there was an air-raid siren going off in the distance. Remember the trumpeter statue? There were at least two, and the flowing water caused their trumpets to sound!

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We waited in the rain until the water reached the pool.

From there, we hurried the half mile or so to the next feature, and waited through still more pouring rain for the water to flow over that waterfall.

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Steinhofer Waterfall without water.

 

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Steinhofer Waterfall with water.

 

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Devil’s Bridge

 

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Water flowing over the Aqueduct.

We were all wet and not so happy by that point. But, since we’d seen everything to that point, we couldn’t very well miss the finale at the lowest pool. So, on we trudged.

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View of lowest pool from just below the Aqueduct.

 

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Lowest pool before the water arrived.

We waited there at the bottom for what felt like a very long time. By that point, we were all tired, damp, thirsty, and ready to leave.

Once the water did reach the lowest pool, the sun had come back out, and the finale WAS fun to see.

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The Finale

You can appreciate the height of the gravity-and-water-powered fountain in the next shot, which was captured from the lawn of the palace.

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Tall Fountain

It was interesting. It’s certainly the biggest yard fountain I have ever seen.

That’s how we spent the majority of our first full day of the road trip.

It could be that the gray and rainy weather dictated the mood. Or it could be that we didn’t focus on the right attractions. Maybe it’s because we were all exhausted by the end of the day from all the walking we’d done. Whatever the case, it was unanimous… Kassel Germany was our least favorite destination.

I’ll share a few more pics tomorrow. But first, below is one of my favorite photos captured during our adventure at the park.

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I caught Annelies taking a picture of me.

 

Overload

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Cute Store Window Display

Hi, my name is Kathy. I am a photoaholic. Or something like that.

Before leaving Belgium, Annelies and I swapped picture files. All of the photos the two of us took during our time together are on a thumb drive/memory stick. I figured I’d go through them, but wanted to first upload the pics I took in Iceland (Annelies and Yves didn’t join us in Iceland).

That’s when I discovered that, in all, I’d taken just over 2,850 pics with my camera. In 19 days. That doesn’t include the 943 images I captured on my phone.

In all, Annelies only took 908 pics. That includes camera and phone pics. Slacker.

But then, she doesn’t have a selfie stick like the cool one Hubby bought for me just before the trip.

Mike, Annelies, Me, Tammi, and Yves at Rhine Falls
Mike, Annelies, Me, Tammi, and Yves at Rhine Falls

You have to look closely to see Yves. He’s in the background, basically standing on my head.

Some folks probably think I spent all of my time behind a camera. I didn’t. I’m just a visual person. When something catches my eye, for whatever reason, I tend to snap a quick photo. I’m a sucker for stuff like fun window displays, cool reflections, interesting and/or different signs, etc. I’ve gotten good at capturing images on the fly and/or on the sly, too, you know, discretely and/or while in motion.

Like this hole-in-the-floor shot I captured on the way to the WC (short for water closet aka toilet) at the Zipfer Bierhaus in Salzburg. According to their website, it was built in 1300. They’re big on authenticity (not kitsch) and preserving history.

Weird Décor in Salzburg, Austria Bar
Weird Décor in Salzburg, Austria Bar

I was really hoping their site would explain the skeleton-at-the-bottom-of-the-well thing.

Oh, and some of those 943 phone pics were captured in bursts or multiple frames of special group selfies. Some were screen captures of important stuff like hotel addresses and/or confirmation numbers. Some were just silly things I saw, or cool motorcycles, funny signs, crazy-looking people, etc. Or beer we wanted to remember. We drank a lot of different beers.

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A Swiss Wheat Beer

Others were views I enjoyed, but was so relaxed I didn’t fell like digging out the “real” camera. There are also quite a few phone pics that started out as camera pics, but that I added to the phone for ease of sharing.

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Our view during lunch in Prague.

Oh, and we can’t forget all of the pics I captured to help tell a story, like this one of Mike and me.

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Me and Hubby Mike at the Hallstatt Salt Mine

See that big-ass hill behind us? We had to walk UP that hill to go down into a salt mine. That hill was so steep — did I mention the dirt-and-gravel path — that is was very hard to maintain our footing while walking back down the hill. Really.

Anyway, to make a long post short… I have a LOT of pictures to sort through!

The Rosiest Gal I Know

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A Labeled Specimen

I have met some really cool people since moving to Virginia in 2011. It’s hard to believe it has already been five years! Well, not officially five until September 30/October 1, but that’s close enough. Sometimes it still feels so new…

But, back to me having met COOL people. One of the interesting localish ladies I’ve befriended is Connie Stevens Hilker. Some of you may remember her from this 2014 post of mine. According to the bio on Connie’s blog…

…I started Hartwood Roses, an educational rose garden in Virginia that specializes in rare and unusual antique roses. I know a lot about roses, old houses, carpentry and remodeling, and am an expert day dreamer. You will often find me working in the garden, planning a home project, building something, or hanging out in a cemetery …all of this has come in handy as my husband and I restore our historic home (built in 1848) renovate the outbuildings, and design the gardens.

She loves animals, too. She’s a supporter of dog rescue. She paints furniture. She’s just a really fun gal. And she’s married to a guy named, Steve, an artist who also seems like a cool chap. Here’s a recent pic of the two of them from Connie’s blog…

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Steve and Connie

Aren’t they a cute couple? They’re grandparents, too.

Now for the point of this post… Connie and Steve hosted an open house/walking garden tour this past May. It’s an annual thing, I think. After seeing all of their preparations online, I thought it would be fun to go.

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Illustrated Map of the Property

There was a map and everything. If you click on any of the images in this post, a larger version will open so you can see details.

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Hartwood Manor – photo courtesy of Connie

 

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There were LOTS of different rose varieties.

I hadn’t told Connie I was coming. She was a little surprised to see me, but I think Steve was more surprised to see this granny pull into his yard on a motorcycle. I hadn’t met Steve before that day. Of course, I felt like I knew him to some degree through Connie and her social media posts.

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That’s Connie on the left chatting-up some other visitors.

It’s a big yard with a lot of different gardens and planting areas.

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Front Hybrid Tea Rose beds, laid out English-garden-style.

 

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Rear outbuildings; L-R, Carriage House Garage, The Shack, and the Greenhouse.

 

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There’s the large Miniature Garden behind the outbuildings.

 

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The Barn and Cottage toward the rear of the property.

 

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English Rose garden near The Barn

 

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Rose Tree (a climbing rose went crazy, resulting in this happy accident)

That’s an overview of the property. Isn’t it delightful?

Now for a bunch of pictures of their gorgeous roses.

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One of my favorite pics from the day.

 

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This flower is a unique shade of dusty lavender; the pic doesn’t do it justice.

 

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Tea Rose

 

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This is a George Washington cabbage rose that dates back to 1860!

 

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Tea Rose

 

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My Favorite Flower

 

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Connie  did a post back in June — she’s FAR more timely than me — with pics where she labeled a lot of the roses.

If you’d like to read more about their old house, check out the “home” section of Connie’s blog. WARNING: you may fall in love with these peeps if you read all about how they restored that beautiful old barn.

Impressive, right?

Backtracking, B&B Style

I’m behind again. I have given up trying to understand or explain why I haven’t been writing blog posts, so I figured I would just state the obvious and move on.

Back in April while Hubby and I were visiting Amy and family in Washington, we FINALLY got the chance to meet up with fellow moto bloggers Brandy (Trobairitz) and Brad (Troubadour). We’d been close a couple of times. I was thrilled that we finally got to meet. (I wrote about that meet-up elsewhere in a more-timely fashion.)

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Brandy, Brad, and Me

They live in Oregon, so Brandy chose a spot — Centralia, Washington — about halfway between their house and Amy’s neighborhood for us to have lunch.

They’re both just as nice in person as I knew they’d be. One day, hopefully, we will meet again and maybe ride together.

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Rainy Day in Washington

Hubby and I arrived a few minutes early so we poked around town a bit. Then, after a lovely lunch, the four of us strolled around town for a little while. Hubby and I were still in charge of the grand kids, so, sadly, we didn’t have an indefinite amount of time to linger.

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My Doppelganger

 

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Mural in Centralia

 

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Brad trying on bikes for size.

 

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Mural in Centralia

 

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Cool Reflection

We had a lovely lunch with B&B. Really. I’m sure the four of us could have some fun adventures together.

Maybe one day…

I think B&B were a bit unsettled when, as we were preparing to leave, I hurried back from the bathroom to get my camera.

It’s never a good feeling when someone is taking pictures in a bathroom. But the sink area was unlike anything I had ever seen.

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Unusual Sink in the Women’s Bathroom at the Restaurant

If Hubby weren’t a plumbing guy, I may not have been so compelled to capture that photo. But he is a plumbing guy, so I HAD to.

My Day in Victoria, BC, Canada

1_IMG_0037As we were planning our recent trip to visit family in Washington, one of the things I really, REALLY wanted to do was take a side trip to Victoria, BC. Not because I hadn’t been there before or because I just wanted to say I’d visited another country. I wanted to get to Victoria to meet Dar.

I’ve known Dar, aka Princess Scooterpie, for several years via her blog, and wanted to meet her in person. The last time I was in Victoria, I’d been traveling with three other people. We were on a tight schedule and I just didn’t feel right carving out time for myself. Of course, I’d regretted it, and I was determined not to make the same mistake twice. If you’d like to read about the meet-up with Dar and two other moto-blogger buddies (on a different day), you can do so here.

Victoria isn’t exactly in the same neighborhood, but it was close enough that I knew I could probably swing a visit, with proper planning and a little bit of luck. The planning part meant figuring out how to get from Auburn, where Amy and family live, to Victoria, which is sort of close on the map, but just happens to be on an island. And that meant the logistics — time and money — were a bit of a challenge. Luck came into play when there was a day with no grand kid sporting events, which meant I didn’t have to be in Washington for chauffeur service. I was free!

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Dar and Me

I had several choices, but finally settled on the Victoria Clipper passenger-only ferry from Seattle.

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Victoria Clipper Ferry

I only had to drive into Seattle for the ferry’s 8:30 a.m. sailing to Victoria, a 2.5-hour ride away. I love ferries. I especially love ferries that travel in and around Washington. It is such a beautiful place. And that day was absolutely gorgeous.

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Farewell, Seattle!

 

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Olympic Mountains

 

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Pretty Water Scene

Oh, we saw Orcas en route, too. Not very well, but we did see their fins.

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Welcome to Victoria

 

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Nice Mural

I was to meet Dar around 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. The ferry docked at about 11:00 a.m. That meant I had four or so hours to explore the lovely little city.

Supposedly, Victoria is Canada’s most-British city. I can’t say I know for sure as it’s the only city in Canada I have ever visited. Not counting a brief trip to Niagara Falls, which is not really a fair comparison.

British-like or not, it’s gorgeous. There are Victorian mansions and flowers galore, which I discovered as I ambled about, with no real plan beyond visiting the city park.

Here are some of the images I captured in Victoria that day.

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Parliament Building (Victoria is the capital of British Columbia.)

 

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Pretty Flowers

 

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Parliament Dome

 

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Frog!

 

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Pretty flowers on legislature lawn.

 

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Lovely House

 

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Fun Fence

 

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Colorful Old Mansion

 

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Yes, it smelled as lovely as it looked.

 

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Friendly Ducks

 

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General Interestingness

 

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Pretty lilacs with lichen-covered branches.

 

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Interesting Architecture

 

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Cool School

 

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Clock Tower

 

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Totem Poles

 

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Totem Pole Close-up

 

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Whale Art

 

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Looking over the harbor.

 

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Looking over the harbor from the opposite side.

 

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Pretty Rhododendron

 

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Wall mural of Vancouver Island (Victoria is on the SE tip.)

I couldn’t decide which sunset image I liked best, so I decided to post three

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Setting Sun #1

 

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Setting Sun #2

I think #2 is my favorite. I like the colors.

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Setting Sun #3

As usual, I shared a ton of pics in this post. So many that I decided to share pictures captured in Beacon Hill Park in a separate post.