Sunday, September 12, 2010

Witzenhausen: The Tale of a small town

They told us it was a small rural town in the heart of Germany. Well, there was nothing terribly rural about this delightful, albeit,small river town famous for its cherries. Pardon me, I am from Kampala and 'rural' town is a relative term. It took us about two and half hours to get here by taxi from Frankfurt International. It could take marginally less time when you taken the bullet train from Frankfurt.
Witzenhausen, we were told is a university town to a satelite campus of organic agricultural sciences of the University of Kassel. It is a tourist delight(and we came across american and english tourists) with buildings from the middle ages. We visited a cathedral from the times of Martin Luther and the reformation. I was amazed that back then they would bury aristocrats in cathedrals. Middle age paintings are still there for all to see and there are not many places in the world you can still say that about.
We visited a tower north of the town where prisoners would be secluded from society. Above the tower you have an imposing view of the town.
We were to be guests here for fourtneen days. Twenty six people from more than fifteen countries.
I took up residence at the Deula. One of us says we are at' Am sande 2',strasse, the German word for street.
In Witzenhausen, business closes at six pm in the evening and these folk do keep time-almost to a fault. Sunday is a complete shut down, the shops are closed.They need the rest. After all, they have been building this nation for centuries while we did the hunter-gather gig...
There is a delightful tarmarcked foot path along the river in the town that is absolutely gorgeous for nature walks and introspection.
We were to be students in a medieval monastery later turned into a German colonial administration school (the irony was not lost on me) and currently an agricultural school.
Witzenhausen, a small, intimate town in the heart of Germany