My trip to Kassel was short but sweet, marked by me seeing exactly what I wanted and some other stuff along the side too. I came to this town for one main reason, actually, which was to see Löwenburg, which wasn't exactly what I was calling it. I was referring to it as "Löwenburg Schloss" but it turns out Löwenburg was more of an awesome midieval home for a family, best I can make out. There's a castle nearby, in the same national-park-esque surroundings. Absolutely beautiful hiking, I was there when there was still plenty of beautiful white on the ground but many trails were semi-traversable (albeit slick!) and water was flowing through the little streams, not to mention the abundant evergreen trees and shrubs all over. A simply stunning location.
Anyways, I did make it to Löwenburg. It took we a good while, taking first one tram to the outskirts of the park then finding the bus doesn't run there that time of year. I went back into town, took another tram to the other end, then figured out the bus doesn't run at all that time of year. Oh well, as I said, I did a lot of hiking, which started right around the time I figured there was no bus.
It was absolutely worth the trek, too, I got to spend some time with nature I otherwise wouldn't have and really enjoyed seeing everything. I must say though, while the Germans have a well-deserved reputation for being very straightforward and marking everything terribly well in their cities, the park was nearly completely devoid of signs denoting which way went where.
As a result I ended up first at a nearby castle which these days houses a good many Rembrandts as well as other paintings of a somewhat similar style, and plenty of sculptures from Egypt, Greece, and more. I opted not to go inside at first, seeking out my main attraction first. It was found not terribly long after that, and it was everything I could have imagined if perhaps a bit smaller. Very old Gothic architecture, walled, nestled atop a hill, it was perfect.
I went inside and took some pictures before finding and going into the little gift shop and getting a ticket for the tour, and I had to wait the ten or so minutes until the hour for the tour. Far be it from me to keep the Germans from staying to their meticulously-planned schedules, despite the fact that I was the only one there for the tour. I was informed that the tour was only in German, and I said "kein Problem" (no problem). I only asked for them to use smaller, more common words and speak a bit slowly, and since I was the only one on the tour, my guide was happy to oblige.
It was made clear right off the bat that I was not allowed to take pictures, and I agreed. After all, even without the flash on pictures can be a bad thing, right? No, of course not, that's stupid. But I agreed nonetheless, and simply kept my camera behind my back in my hands, snapping upside-down shots as we walked through. They were none the wiser, and some of my pictures actually turned out decently. Most were blurry and too low of an angle, but when life gives you a no photography sign, you take photos behind your back. As the old saying goes.
There was a living room with multi-hundred-year-old games inside, a bedroom with equally ancient adornments, a hunting room with actual crossbows, pikes, old rifles and mounted heads. Very cool. My favorite, I think, was the armory, though. It had lots of armor for both humans and horses, and weapons all over. Morningstars, swords, lances and so on. It really was amazing.
Next up was the aforementioned castle, which was very nice if exactly alike any other museum you have ever visited inside. A few stories with varying exhibitions, some very impressive (especially some of the paintings, and it was neat seeing real Rembrandts up close!). After some time spend there I treked back to the train station then took that to town, and walked around. The town of Kassel was not particularly big, I would guess perhaps 40,000-70,000 residents. It had quaint shops as well as bigger stores along its somewhat-packed streets that every city in Germany I've seen thus far has had. It did have its own Opera house, though, and a good smattering of museums. One I really wanted to visit was the Brothers-Grimm museum, one I didn't know was there until already in the town. How fortuitous! They apparently do some language research there, which I bet has a lot to do with differing versions of the Grimm brothers' stories in differing locales, or the evolution of the tales over time. I was very excited to go. Unfortunately, the museum was undergoing renovations scheduled to end perhaps a week or two from now, and so I didn't get to see it, a real bummer. Still, I really enjoyed my time in Kassel.
After Löwenburg
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