Yesterday evening ended with a hefty thunderstorm that only brushed past us in the barn at first – but in the early hours of the morning, heavy rain poured down on the roof. Our plan: visit Kassel Wilhelmshöhe to experience the famous water features. A quick check of the weather app showed it was doable. There would be some more rain, but with a bit of luck, we’d avoid it. And if not, we’ve got our rain jackets ready.

So off we went: handed in the keys, paid for the salami, and received a few last impressions of other Home & Classics accommodations as a parting gift. A real highlight: Michael’s dog, Mr. Bean—a friendly, cuddly 14-year-old Golden Retriever. After plenty of petting, we set off with his tip to take the route over the Hoher Meißner. The route couldn’t have been more picturesque: gentle hills, winding roads, vast fields, meadows, and forests – a dream route for motorcyclists.

A little curiosity we’d already noticed the day before: in Hesse, it seems there’s a permanent traffic jam. No matter which route we entered into the GPS – everything showed red. No cars, no construction sites, no closures – yet constant “risk of congestion.” Hesse seems to have its own unique logic when it comes to traffic. We just shrugged it off.

The closer we got to Kassel, the worse the weather became – at the Wilhelmshöhe parking lot, we were greeted by thunderstorms and heavy rain. Still, there was quite a crowd – probably fewer than on a sunny day, but still plenty of visitors. The €8.50 park ticket included bus transport on line 23 all the way up to the Hercules Monument – something we had researched online beforehand. So we hopped on the bus to the starting point of the water features, planning to walk back down along the water’s path later.

The Hercules Monument with its cascading water features is truly impressive. Dark rock—or is it concrete?—dominates the scene. On both sides of the cascade, steps lead down in four stages. From the top, there’s a fantastic view of the man-made waterfall. The water was scheduled to be turned on at 2:30 p.m.—and it seems the weather gods agreed, because almost at the same time, they opened the floodgates again. Wet from above, wet from the front—but we didn’t let that spoil our fun and kept snapping photos enthusiastically.

From the last large water basin, the path led us further down through the forest, past the Devil’s Bridge with a pretty—but rather dry—waterfall, and past the aqueduct to a small temple beside the fountain. Crossing a bridge, we reached a large plaza offering the best view of the fountain with the cascades in the background. Here we discovered another waterfall, spectacularly pouring from a rocky tower.
By now, the rain had eased, and the sun helped dry our wet sleeves. Then, amid many “oohs” and “aahs,” the fountain soared impressively into the blue sky—a perfect moment.

The rest of the descent went quickly, and soon we were back at the parking lot. We’d rather not imagine how crowded the spectacle must be in sunshine and during peak holiday season. Even in the rain, it was impressive and definitely an experience to remember.

On the way back via the A44, we finally encountered real traffic—well, lots of stop-and-go congestion, to be precise. Guess those constant traffic warnings have to be justified sometime! As soon as we hit NRW, A) the warning disappeared from the GPS, and B) the traffic reports on the radio came back.

Conclusion: There’s no such thing as bad weather – just different ways to experience an adventure. Even if not every photo was a hit today, the impressions remain vivid in our minds. And that’s what it’s all about: going out, marveling, living – no matter if it’s sunshine or rain.

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