Langen Things to Do

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A hunting lodge which is called Wolfsgarten needs to have some wolves, of course! When the lodge was built, it was shaped like a square, around a yard in the middle. This is where the hunters used to meet, before they rode off. In the center of this square there is a fountain, probably for the horses to have a last drink of water before they set off.
The water is running out of two wolves' heads.

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One side of the lodge is dedicated to roses. Probably because we had an unusually warm April this year, the roses were in full bloom already. It was so beautiful!!
Rosebushes were growing up alongside of the house, mainly white and red ones. This again reminded me of a fairytale, Snow White and Rose Red.

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Close to the lodge there is a garden, full with sculptures, very playful. All along on the wall you can see small sculptures and in the garden itself there are several, put up in a geometrical way. This is a garden in which the sculptures seem to be more important than the flowers.

Langen is about 20 minutes away from Frankfurt and about 15 minutes from Darmstadt. Today, that is!
Back in the 18th century this journey took much longer. There is an old signpost standing next to the lodge, saying "Four hours to Darmstadt". Probably that was a day trip they didn't do too often.

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The Prinzessinnenhaus is locked, but I could see through the windows that there are still some furniture inside. A photo was standing on a table, with a picture of a little girl from about 1900. Stuffed animals can be seen, among them a pug.
Outside the house, there is a cemetery for pets. The inscriptions talk about the beloved pug or Labrador. Some of the tomb stones are from 20th century, as a member of the duke's family had lived in Schloss Wolfsgarten until her death in 1997.

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The rhododendron bushes have been planted on two sides of the park.Small and tall bushes, white ones, pink and red ones, purple ones, all truly magnificent.

Old statues are standing there as well. My favourite was one of a mother cuddling
her child.

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There is a pond in the park, covered by lots of water-lilies and again surrounded by old trees and flowers. Very small benches had been put up many years ago. The pond was inhabited by lots of frogs, all croaking happily.I was almost expecting one of the frogs wearing a golden crown, asking me to kiss him. But then again, there were younger and more beautiful women around, so I wouldn't have had to make this decision.

As it turned out, none of the frogs was wearing a golden crown and the only females they were interested in were the frog ladies.

Judging by the huge amount of tadpole I saw, they had been extremely successful.

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Walking through the park, we saw old, weather-beaten walls , partially hidden under flowers. Among the rhododendron bushes there were some old , very small stairs all of a sudden, seemingly leading into nowhere.All this added to the fairytale atmosphere.