Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival

On Thursday we visited the Pumpkin Festival held of the grounds of the Residential Palace at Ludwigsburg.

 

The foundation stone was laid on May 17, 1704 under Duke Eberhard Ludwig of Württemberg (reigning monarch from 1693 to 1733). One year later, the site was named "Ludwigsburg" (in English: "Ludwig's castle"). Begun as a hunting lodge, the project became much more complex and gained momentum over the years.

On August 17, 1709, the duke established the city of Ludwigsburg directly next to his palace, copying the proximity of Versailles to Paris. Previously, the royal palace was the cramped and outdated Old Castle (Altes Schloss) in the heart of Stuttgart. In 1718, Ludwigsburg temporarily became capital and sole residence of the dukes of Württemberg.

Although the palace is lovely we came primarily for the Pumpkin Festival.

 

 

 

With over 400,000 pumpkins on display, including over 450 different varieties of pumpkins from all over the globe, Ludwigsburg's Annual Pumpkin Fest is considered one of the largest pumpkin festivals in the world. Each year, the Ludwigsburg Castle gardens are transformed into a themed park featuring hundreds of varieties of pumpkin. 2012's festival is all about Switzerland ... from alphorns to Swiss flags, The Matterhorn, and mountain goats, all meticulously created with pumpkins of all colors, shapes and sizes.

The Hunting Lodge in the distance.

I personally found the "Swiss" theme a bit lacking. 

Last year's theme was dinosaurs which sounds a lot more fun.

I thought this was an old castle ruin...but it is Rapunzel's tower (part of the Fairytale Garden)

I want to live here....

"J" wants to live here....nope just kidding.  She thinks this would be a great club house.  She WANTS to live in the Palace.  I said "the palace is so big...you could never find your brother if you wanted to play"  She assured me she would have a cell phone and would just call whom ever she wanted to play with.

In the Children's fairy tale garden we found this "game".  If you step on the wrong stone you get squirted by the frogs.  The kids thought it was great fun to get squirted...then complain that they were wet.

This strange character asked for "trash" to be fed to him.  He asked over and over and over...

Another strange water..."thing".  Once you sit on the seat the fountains turn on and trap you as the seat rises up into the air.