h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So, yesterday we were invited by our boss for the 10th anniversary-do of one of my colleagues.
The location was Schloss Freudenberg near Wiesbaden. It's a place with exhibits to try all your senses.
I wasn't really keen to go (because the colleague we 'celebrated' is quite often quite nasty to me), but my other colleagues convinced me to go after all.
The weather on Friday had been lovely: sunny and warm, but not so yesterday.
It was very cold (about 9.00 °C), and it rained, so I wished I could just stay at home, wrapped up in a warm blanket.
This drastic change in weather resulted in my blood pressure dropping towards zero, and my feet apparently being exchanged with two blocks of ice.

We arrived at about 14.30, and my first impulse was to turn around and go home - it was packed with people and very noisy.
A nice fire was burning in the large fireplace near the entrance, making the air so smokey it bit your eyes. A few steps into the hall, and I discovered the source of the 'noise':
a Chinese Spouting Bowl, like the one they have in the Explora museum, plus a smaller bowl giving higher tunes.
Well, after I had survived the initial 15 minutes I started to adapt to the crowds, noise and smells, and we had a very nice time after all, including some and in the café.
Afterwards, we ventured in the garden. It had stopped raining but was still very cold. Fortunately, there was no wind, though.
There is a path you are expected to explore with bare feet - the ground is made of various materials like wood, stones, plain mud and large puddles, interspersed with tree trunks or large metal bars to balance on and test your equilibrium.
Apparently, you're meant not only to cross the path with bare feet, but with closed eyes, too (with somebody else guiding you, but still!).
Neither of these were exactly inviting in the cold, but the boss set a good example and some of us followed. My feet being as cold as they were, I thought I might at least get the Kneipp effect.
It was fun albeit not without risk, as due to all the rain, the whole path was very wet and slippery, especially the tree trunks and metal bars which were not only wet, but muddy, too. We all had our eyes open, anything else would have ended in broken limbs.
With our feet being so cold as to be numb the various undergrounds couldn't be 'felt' the way they are thought to, but it was still great fun.

Afterwards, we went to explore the garden a bit more, then changed the location and had a fantastic dinner.
I was home at about 23.00.

If somebody's interested, there are photos here:*

http://picasaweb.google.com/TheBelana/SchlossFreudenberg


* I had to take photos of the sugar sachets when I suddenly remembered the Guide Entry about them.

What a lovely day out ..... pity about the weather but you can't have everything. Do you know that all those photos have captions in German.


You must have a very nice boss to treat you all like that.

I know the captions are in German - my colleagues are Germans - or rather German-speaking.

Do you think I should add captions in English? Just for you?

No .... I think you should assume that other viewers will be smart enough to be able to read them.

Oh, they're not very witty, so the fewer people understand, the better.

It sounds like you had fun,despite the weather,and not really wanting to go B'el.
I'd have opted for the blanket option,was there any wheelchair access??

No, it's about 100 years old and a listed building, so they aren't allowed to install lifts. You need a strong helper to access the first floor or the cellars.

Even in a listed building, if the other floors are public, they're required to provide access

Sounds like it was fun, though, Bel Interesting, at least, I've been ing at your pictures.

I think staff will help you drag a wheelchair up or down respectively, but that's it.

http://www.schloss-freudenberg.de/html/index.php

Ah, right, they're still renovating. That explains it I was going to say if it's that simple - it's a listed building, we can't - then why is our prof torturing us making us find ways to add them?

Oh, but they only promise to try making access easier, but they clearly say lifts aren't allowed. Maybe they'll make part of the staircase a ramp, as they've done with the stairs leading up to the building. Btw, it was so wet that the outside ramp was of no use at all, not even for prams.

There are still things like stair lifts that don't require any *structural* changes to the building. I suppose that's the route they might take.

But it sounds like they're not trying properly, just doing the minimum

Oh, well, won't derail this thread anymore

Bel,There are so many places that it would be pointless to visit,because i couldn't get round.It's always good to know of somewhere we could go for a change

Most of the sound exhibits are in the cellar - as is the 'Dunkelbar' - a bar that's completely dark, with a blind bartender serving you your drinks. The bar wasn't open, but there is a passageway that's just as dark. There are only so many people allowed in there at any given time, so we had to split into two groups. Before entering, you're asked to leave your on the bench and your glasses in a small box. The glasses won't be of any use to you in there as it's pitch black, but if you keep them, you risk breaking them, either by somebody else panicking and flailing their arms, or by yourself running into an obstacle.
It was quite a spooky experience, all the way through we kept calling out if the others were still near, groping for a wall to keep to whilst carefully testing the ground with our feet. I still managed to hit my shin at some wooden obstacle, but not much, so it wasn't too bad.

Sal, there were quite a few people in wheelchairs there. Staff was very friendly and helpful, I'm sure they'd help with wheelchairs. But then it's a bit too far for you to go, I guess.

Sounds like a great day - pity about the cold.

What exactly is a Chinesisches Klangbecken? I'm interested in all sorts of noise makers and I haven't heard of this.

It sounds SO scary!!!
I don't like the dark ,so i wouldn't have thought about going there,even if i could

Gnomon, I couldn't find a translation of it. This one amused me though 'Mäander Dingsbums' - translation please?!

Oh, and it was nice to hear the sound clip at the very end of the slideshow

Websailor

Gnomon, that's the Chinese Spouting Bowl. It's filled with water, and you rub the handles with wet hands. The whole thing starts to vibrate (including the area arouind it), the water looks as if it's boiling, and it produces a sound. I didn't try it, but my colleague who did, said that she felt the vibration already when dipping her hands into the water, and that the vibration went through her whole body while she rubbed those handles.

Sal, it's really harmless, but it gives you an impression of how you would feel if you suddenly lost your eyesight.

I got Chinese Sound Basin but couldn't get one for 'Mäander Dingsbums'

Websailor