The rest of the fall was filled with little adventures and lots of friends. Since Halloween is pretty much non-existent in this part of Bavaria, we decided to take a trip up to Ludwigsburg, north of Stuttgart, for their pumpkin festival. This was a great trip, and I would highly recommend going if you ever get a chance. The palace, itself, is well worth the tour. The grounds around the palace have been turned into a fairy tale world with animatronics of several different story characters. Below the fairy tale park was the pumpkin displays and competitions. Can we just say WOW!!
View from above as we were approaching the lower grounds
A comical display - oh and then there is the frog in the background! No, no! Just kidding.
These pumpkins were just enormous. It fascinated the hubby!!
All the displays were made out of pumpkins and gourds. Mother Goose is behind us. The giant's table is to our right.
Cinderella and her chariot
The Pied Piper - even the mice following him are made out of gourds
Knights and dragons abound
A display of the Ludwigsburg "L" that was not obvious as to what it was at ground level because it was so big. This picture was taken way up on a high hill.
A neat tower on top of the hill where we took the "L" picture.
The gardens behind the palace. Truly stunning!!
One side of the courtyard for the palace. This place was impressive!!
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Another wonderful weekend trip was to our friends who live near Rottweil next to the Black Forest region. They took us on a hike up the Feldberg, the highest mountain in the Black Forest. Although it is a different kind of scenery and much lower than some of our mountains locally, it was a fantastic hike and view. We were planning to get a bite to eat at this little hut, but unfortunately, we were off-season, so it was closed.
So we stopped by the Titisee lake shore instead. These two are just cut-ups when they are together!
Having a bite as the sun set over the lake. As usual, I was a lot warmer than everyone else. Coming back to sultry Charleston is going to be a struggle!!!
Mmmm - Black Forest Cake!!
The family we stayed with was absolutely charming - as this picture well represents.
The following day, we went to a well-known glass blowing factory where the kids could also blow their own glass. Here are some of the incredible vases one could choose from to make their own take home souvenir.
Our oldest giving it a whirl
followed by our youngest
At the end, they grind the top of the vase for you so that you can use it without cutting yourself. It was all very interesting!! Here we all are (except for the camera man) waiting for our vases.
The final products - I am thrilled to have them!!!
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Thanksgiving here is also non-existent, of course, as one would expect. But we made it a special holiday having a Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner with our very good friends, partly from England and partly from Germany. We had such a good time with them!!!
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Finally the snows came and skiing was in the offing. This is a panoramic of our usual ski haunt. Not too steep, but lots of fun!
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We decided to go low-key on our Christmas decorations. We bought a Christmas branch we could keep indoors and hang my newly acquired Christmas eggs on. Sparse, but it was perfect for us.
And the attempts to be good recyclers was in full swing this Christmas as well. Our little tree from last year did not make it through the summer. We kept meaning to throw it out, but there isn't an easy way to do that here, so we wound up keeping it. As Christmas approached, we decided to honor Charlie Brown and use it once again as our little tree. Don't laugh too hard!!
As you can see, with snow covering the dead branches, it is transformed. (One of the many things I love about snow!!)
And at night, it was amazing. Even the ugliest and least of all God's things can still be beautiful, if appreciated.
And that brings us to the end of 2009.
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We've had two momentous birthdays since this year has progressed. That blog is next and will be shorter but fraught with excitement and danger.
But stay tuned - my blogging days are not over. We still have other future events coming up: my trip to SC for a house hunt, a weekend girls' trip to London and parts nearby, a jaunt over to France, a visit from my parents, our trip to Italy, and sadly, the end of this great adventure with our move back home. In the meantime ...
Auf wiedersehen!!
Amie
