A Dogs Day in Kassel

Kassel, Germany

I have the fortune to be living in Germany. Now what I have come to find out is that dogs are widely accepted as a member of the family. Dogs accompany their people everywhere. I was surprised when I was enjoying a peaceful dinner; the silence was broken by a little yappy dog in the restaurant. The dog was there under the table with its family.
I own an 88 lb German Shepard named Josie and I felt it might be a good idea to take a trip with her one day. Well as we were browsing the special offers from the Deutsche Bahn ticket machine, we found a Hessenticket. Basically it means you can travel anywhere in the state of Hessen, Germany by train for the day.

So the day began with trying to get my 88 lb monster into my, ever so European, 1988 VW Golf. And it’s a two door car at that. Oh she knew we were going somewhere because she was bouncing around the backseat like it was a jumping house. Once at the train station I couldn’t help but to feel weird because I’m here with this big dog about to get on a train with a bunch of people and no one seems to care. I could imagine being in the States how many looks I would have received or people commenting about her, but not here. It’s just another day in Germany.
So with ticket in hand and waiting on the platform our journey begins and it seems like it will be an uneventful one. It was Christmas eve and the only thing open was public transportation and train station restaurants, which is typical on holidays. In Germany the 24th through the 26th of December are holidays.

So getting on the train you must be very quick. The Germans are very prompt and the train will leave on time, with or without you. Good thing Josie is not scared of trains because any hesitation we would have missed it. Nope instead she ran right in trying to greet every person on her way. What I came to find out is that not everyone in Germany is very fond of dogs. It actually made me laugh. As I was walking down the aisle looking for a spot to park Josie there were a couple rowdy teenagers just being teens. Well one of them had his back turned and as Josie was walking by she must have nudged him with her nose because he turned around to see who it was. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone jump so hard or fast from a seated position in my life.

We proceeded to the cargo car. Just an open car with seats along the wall. Meant for people with bicycles or lots of luggage, so it seems perfect for Josie. Three hours on a train. I didn’t think it was going to be hard for a dog that just lies around the house all day. She was so curious. Every person that walked by she wanted to great. Even if they had no interest in her she wanted to accompany them. I guess the rest of the train ride was pretty uneventful except for this one situation. So this lady was talking to Josie in German. I think she was asking if she was friendly. She never patted Josie, just put her face really close to Josie’s face. I was trying to tell her to put her hand out but there was a miscommunication. The lady started making Josie really uncomfortable and before the lady put her face any closer Josie let out a single bark. Oh that lady was surprised, but she just laughed it off and walked away.

So typically with any new city we looked for the information area to find a map. Not here though. They had an information board with popular locations and with bus or tram lead to that area. So we found a park and went to find the bus that lead there. Number 3, we must board number 3.

So we ran for the first tram that said number 3. That was a big mistake. There was a couple of things wrong with that situation. 1: Josie does not get along with other dogs. At All. 2: We chose, what must have been, the dog park express. As soon as we boarded the tram Josie lunged and began barking. It was so scary  this guy jumped back and entire row of seats. He was so surprised that he literally climbed over the seat and fell one row back out of fear. It was so hard to get her to shut up. These were the types of looks I was afraid of getting.

Again it being Christmas eve there really wasn’t much open. And for what was opened it closed very early. Spending 3 hours on a train makes you really hungry. The search for a restaurant began. So after a short tram ride to the end of town we got dropped off at a kind of historical park. The palace was closed and there were only a few people actually walking the grounds but our hungry was at the top of our minds. Even we tried to take a small walk to distract from the fact we haven’t eaten yet, and it’s far past noon, that we made our way back into town.

Street corner, after street corner we were met with closed sign after closed sign. Alles geschlossen (Everything closed). But right before we gave up hope to head for the train station we found this nice little breakfast cafe. And of course it’s normal for dogs to come into restaurants I did not feel comfortable taking Josie inside. Outside in the cold we sat. For the life of me I can not remember the name of the cafe but their specialty was omelettes. Yummy omelettes. I had the shrimp omelette. Sehr Lecker! (So tasty!)

So around 1600 (4 o’clock in the afternoon) we finally made it to downtown. So the whole time we thought we were somewhere we weren’t. We had just been on the outskirts of town. We we boarded the tram still number 3 and headed in the opposite  direction we ended up right in the shopping district. Now the problem was it was past 4 p.m. and all the shops closed at 5. And on top of that because it was a holiday all the museums were closed, not like we were going to be able to go to one with Josie. So we just walked the empty streets. It was starting to get dark and the cold was setting in. I took some opportunities to take photos of Josie with the sights.

Now this got some looks but funny ones. People thought it was funny that I was lifting this dog to take a picture with the Chinese lion. It’s really to bad that everything was closed there seem to be many great places to visit. I did manage to find an open cemetery. It gave off a kind of creepy vibe because it didn’t seem like a place you would hang out with your friends unless you were up to something. Normally when we go to new cities we like to visit the churches or cathedrals but even this one was closed. It’s to bad. It seemed very beautifully designed.

As it got dark and the cold really set in, back to the train we went. I don’t think this day was really about visiting a new city. I think it was about the adventure of exploring with a new person, or dog in this case. I have never traveled with Josie before because she is so big. But the day ended out being a lot of fun. It kind of made us pay more attention to the people in the area because I had to be watchful for other dog.