Yesterday, I shared a little about our anti-climatic
Oktoberfest. We got to the festival grounds later in the evening and stayed into the night, but what did we do the rest of the day?
Well, after getting a much later than expected start and revising our 'Fest Plan, we went to Ludwigsburg for their annual Pumpkin Festival. We had never been to this gorgeous little town before and the weather was perfect for checking things out. Warm in the sun without being too hot, slightly cool in the shade.... When Germany chooses to do so, it rocks good weather!
In the market square (every town in Germany has a market square it seems) they were having an antique market that was fun to look around. It's one of the better antique markets we've been to here with a wide selection of goods. I found a leather satchel to die for, but Mike wouldn't let me get it. {{Sad face}}
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| Typical of Market Squares everywhere here: A town hall on one side... |
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| ... a church on the other |
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| Pretty boxes of color pencils |
The Pumpkin Festival is a big deal every year. It lasts from the end of August until the beginning of November and always has a theme. This year the theme was the Olympics, so all of the pumpkin displays were of Olympic sports.
Also, each weekend has a different event. We found out about this fest a little late this year and missed the Pumpkin Regatta - that's right, grown men hollow out huge pumpkins to float in and race across the water - but it's SO on the calendar for next year! I sort of want to enter my husband next year to get him back for the leather bag I didn't get to buy this year. Is that terrible of me?
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| The lighting of the torch |
The weekend we went they were having a Pumpkin Soup Cook-off! The lines to try the Pumpkin Soup were ridiculously long so we ate at a restaurant on the palace grounds instead, but we enjoyed walking around the market area and checking out the other displays, too.
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| "Kurbis" is "pumpkin" in German |
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| Oh My Gourd! |
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| This is "The World's Heaviest Pumpkin" or that's what the sign says at least. It was a pretty big pumpkin. |
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| I think this guy was my favorite display of the day. |
The Pumpkin Festival is held on the open grounds of the Ludwigsburg Palace and Baroque Grounds and it cost 8 euro each to get in.
Worth it! There is so much to see and do and I think we both could have been happy spending the whole day there.
Germany is considered by many to be the home of fairy tales, and most of the ones we're familiar with in America are direct descendants of German stories. Part of the Baroque Gardens is a kids land with interactive displays for kids to play with, several play grounds, a train ride, and a boat ride for them to enjoy.
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| At the entrance to the kids area |
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| King Ludwig's castle |
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| Rapunzel's Tower |
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| Yeah, the hair comes down when you call for it! |
And can I just say how adorable it is to hear a little German girl calling out their version of, "Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Let down your hair!" and then giggling excitedly when the braid starts it's descent. It was one of the cutest things I've seen in a while.
But the palace isn't just fun for kids. They have an aviary and massive gardens to explore. I've heard the palace tour is really interesting, but we didn't do that. Maybe we will next year when we go back for the regatta.
I just love the word 'regatta.' That has nothing to do with anything; I just like it.
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Did you know that flamingos are my favorite birds? They are the one exhibit at most zoos I could spend all day looking at.
That has nothing to do with anything either. |
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| This guy was kind of a show off. |
The aviary was interesting; it was all open air once you get inside (you have to go through a cave to get there) and the birds were just roaming around freely. Each group had it's own area that it obviously preferred and nested in, but they weren't bothered by each other. We only saw a few of the birds but could hear the others.
So that's it for us! That's how we started our Oktoberfest
(read about how we ended our day here). I think this might have been the more enjoyable part of our day. We're pretty laid back and aren't interested in partying a lot. If we'd had a picnic blanket and a couple of books, we'd have been in heaven in Ludwigsburg.
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