We left bright and early Saturday morning heading to Ludwigsburg to attend the Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival which is held on the grounds of the Ludwigsburg Residential Palace. The first building on this site was constructed in 1704. It was built as a hunting lodge for Duke Eberhard Ludwig. He also came here to get away from his wife, who was not the prettiest woman you've ever seen. In 1718 Ludwigsburg became the Duke’s primary residence, so he wanted to expand the palace to fully reflect his power and prestige. What resulted was a four wing complex which enclosed a square courtyard. The palace was completed in 1733, the same year the Duke died. The palace served as home to other dukes and kings until the early 1800s.
We took a guided tour (in English) of the palace which lasted nearly two hours! We definitely got our money's worth. I was so sad that photography was not allowed inside the palace because it is seriously beautiful. In addition to the royal living quarters, the servant's quarters, and the entertaining areas, the palace also houses two churches and its own theater, which is Europe's oldest preserved theater.
Here are some pictures of the outside of the palace and some of the beautiful gardens surrounding it.
There were multiple weddings going on inside the palace, and we passed several brides and grooms having their pictures made in various rooms in the palace. While we were waiting in the inner courtyard for our tour to start, this wedding party came out to pose for pictures. Our tour guide told us he thought it cost around 200 Euro to have your wedding ceremony here. Yes, please!!
On the back lawn of the palace is where the pumpkin festival was taking place. There were pumpkin weighing contests, loads of creative pumpkin displays, and lots of pumpkin food & drink. Laurel & tried some fried pumpkin croquettes which we thought were pretty good. The boys, however, did not agree...lol!
Back near all the pumpkin displays was a children's fairy tale garden. There were various displays from well known fairy tales (and some we weren't quite sure of). It was more of a little kid thing, but still a lot of fun to go through.
This is Rapunzel's tower,
and this is Rapunzel's hair. There was an adorable little boy here yelling in German up to the top of the tower for Rapunzel to let down her hair.
Hansel & Gretel...
All in all we had a nice day here, other than one small problem. I had been having pain in my right ankle for about two weeks at this point. It started off just kind of sore and had progressed to being painful when I walked up and down steps. Well, all the walking we did on Saturday aggravated it to the point where every step was excruciating. I looked like your 95 year old great grandmother limping around amidst the pumpkins! Don asked me if I wanted to just go home, but we had a day in Ulm planned for Sunday, and I was not about to miss out on it. (I'll have those pictures up in a day or two - Part 2 Ulm!) Obviously when we got back home I had to go see my doctor. Somehow I strained a tendon in my ankle, and apparently not doing anything about it for two weeks wasn't the wisest choice. I've been icing it and keeping it propped up as much as possible this week, and I started physical therapy this morning. I'm hoping I'm able to walk without pain soon because I have places to go and things to see!! I've not had the best luck in the injury department since arriving in Germany. I hope this is the last one for a while.
