Our last place in Kirchditmold, part 1

In the last couple of years before emigrating in, we moved to an adjacent district closer to the city centre, called Kirchditmold. As I mentioned, these areas started out as separate communities and eventually were incorporated into Kassel proper.
I didn't have the time for many camera shots of the "village" centre, but got a couple passing through on the bus. The tower belongs to a rather grand Protestant church where my brother and (I believe) sister had confirmation. On top you can see one view of the main street.

Harleshausen: Part 4

The street my grandmother lived on, and where I spent a lot of time as a child, as well as adult when I visited, is called Sänglesrain. Her house was right on the bottom corner. The first photo (bottom of this post) shows a view of the street upward, leading away from the house. The next shows the house, with her rented suite on the second floor. The round window was at the staircase, and became a minor legend in our family as she always looked out from it to greet visitors, or wave goodbye. Each of us in Canada has at least one photo of her in this window.
The street was just one up from a road leading to a clinic, a field, and woods that are part of a large network of park areas. I used to love playing there, and later when I stayed with my grandmother, we took regular walks.
Finally, we left this part of Kassel via a shortcut through the woods, to catch a streetcar back to the city centre.

Harleshausen: Part 3

The old red brick building was, I believe, my first elementary school. It is now a local firehouse. The current school is on the other side of the lane. This photo shows only part of it; quite a contrast, indeed. Both church and school are on the other side of the road from our old house, which was highly convenient. I'm including a close-up of the house so you can see exactly which one I mean, and how old it really is. The last photo, on the top, shows the path across a field leading to my grandmother's former house. She died in 1982, and it was only about a year before that I had last visited her. It was also the last time I had been to Germany, until Christmas/New Year 2007-2008. You can't see the actual house yet, as it is hidden by one other, and a lot of trees and bushes. On to the next post.

Harleshausen: Part 2 (more to come)

This old house at the bottom was one of the first I remember living in, once we got settled back in Kassel after the upheaval of WW2 (a decided understatement, but no point getting into all of German history here). This house is a real relic, and I find it unbelievable that after more than 50 years--and likely much longer--it remains standing! Even then, it seemed a bit of a shack, and with all the well-kept houses in the neighbourhood, it stands out as old and run-down indeed. But my sentimental attachment makes finding this again a bit of magic.
Next, the church where my family attended while we lived in that neighbourhood. You can see by the sign that it is a protestant church, the German word for which is "evangelisch." Every church I saw in Kassel seemed to be Lutheran, although I imagine there are noiw a few other houses of worship...somewhere. Northern Germany was the place of Martin Luther's protestant revolution, so it's understandable that the tradition is very strong here.

Last days in Kassel: Harleshausen, part 1

On August 9 and 10, we revisited several key areas where I used to live, play, and go to school before coming to Canada. I took lots of pictures, and will write several entries to put them in somewhat of a historical sequence.
These entries are late because of the preparations we had to do for leaving on August 11. Because my PDA makes posting photos (which I shot especially on this device's camera for uploading) cumbersome and slow, I don't always have the time to work on that. Now I am updating.
First, you can see parts of the old village of Harleshausen, long ago annexed to Kassel. I have a view of the main street, called Wolfhager Strasse, where Stefan and I stopped for cake and coffee. The bakery is more modern now, but I remember it being here since I was a child, and it was one of my favourite destinations. Inside you see the ample offerings, so despite an expanding waistline--that I swear to work on once I get back!--I could not resist having cake with the coffee; topped with real whipped cream...

We have settled into sleeping afternoons, reading, watching TV, or blogging (me) at night, and leaving the hotel at daybreak, when it's still pleasantly cool. That's just after 5 a.m. right now. The day tends to become hot and humid after about 10 a.m.. We also go for walks and some grocery shopping in the evening. The public transport is fantastic, and we received passes from the hotel. I bought guidebooks (in English, so Stefan can read them, too), and we discovered a whole new set of historical facts and cultural activities! Nice to rediscover a city I thought I knew, from a different perspective. Kassel really is beautiful, and not nearly as sedate as I presumed (I might even have used the term "boring" before; in a nice way, of course).
I'm posting just a couple pics of our evening walk toward the park yesterday, and our two-hour hike there and to the top this morning. Park Wilhelmshöhe is hilly, wooded, and very nicely kept. There is a long history, which I might attempt to summarize in a couple of sentences later on.
The castle, at the bottom, and the statue of Hercules atop a small "burg," at the top, are highlights of this park, but there's a lot more to it. In the early hours we walked from the hotel to the edge, then walked or scrambled along paths and steps to the top. It took about two hours total. Nothing was open yet, so we took the bus and tram back to town to have breakfast. I want to do the trip in reverse next time, taking transit to the top and then walking down. Hopefully the castle will be open and we can have a coffee in the charming cafeteria.
Finally, we visited the house (now museum) of the Brothers Grimm. I'll write about that in the next post.

Rode the train from Frankfurt to Kassel, and are now settling in for a week. Our hotel is right by the train station, but we got a nice room in a quiet part. There are multiple connections by tram and bus to other parts the city--which itself is not all that big. Tomorrow we'll ride the tram to Kassel's famous Park Wilhelmshöhe, which is not far, and up the street from us. I spent a lot of time there as a child. For now, I can post some photos from the Web--there actually are a lot for this area.
(Still figuring out how to upload my own pix using the PDA less-than-fully functioning mobile browser.)