Kürbisfest - Ludwigsburg 2012

This weekend, we attended the annual Kürbisfest (Pumpkin Festival) in Ludwigsburg.  We visited this fest last year and loved it!  I can't believe that we have already been here a year and it sounds strange to hear myself saying "when I was here last year....".   Anyway, each year this fest has a different theme and this years theme was Switzerland.  Not as cool as last years theme (Dinosaurs!) but I did not let that stop me from going again.  The fest is held in the gardens of Schloss Ludwigsburg and in addition to over 400,000 pumpkins, the garden is filled with fairy tale themed exhibits.  We went with the Lincicums and spent over 4 hours exploring the gardens and all the pumpkins!

Leena, Taryn and Maddie chillin' in front of Schloss Ludwigsburg.

The girls in front of the Swiss Flag.

The girls pose with a tiny portion of Schloss Ludwigsburg behind them.

Leena in front of a pumpkin Swiss cow.

Checking out the hundreds of different pumpkins for sale.

Fun in the hay stacks!

Another Swiss cow, but this one is complete with utters! 

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins!

Alphorn player

The kids in front of the Matterhorn.

Of course, a Swiss knife!

Above, Leena checks out the over 450 varieties of pumpkins from all over the world - most from the USA!  In addition to looking at the pumpkins, you could eat them in every way imaginable... pumpkin soup, pumpkin dumplings, pumpkin rice ladle, spaghetti Kürbinese, Pumpkin strudel, pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin quiche, pumpkin Rösti, pumpkin chips, and pumpkin sparkling wine (see picture below).  Just to name a few!!!

Going on a fun boat ride through the garden!

Taryn on the same boat ride!

 

Petting this sweet goat in the garden.  Taryn wasn't too sure at first!

All aboard!!

The kids made their way through a labyrinth and found this fun fountain.  Each step that Taryn took across the bridge made the water squirt into the air!

Rapunzel's Tower!  You can just see her hair hanging from the balcony above and Maddie and Taryn yelling below "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"  The best part was, after they yelled the magic words, the hair would actually come down!

Another neat exhibit with Rapunzel's Tower in the background.

Maddie and Taryn checking things out.

The kids inside Heidi's house.

Three monkeys!

 

Who knew Germans would be so good at carving pumpkins!

Cute pumpkins, but my favorite are the mice on top of the Swiss cheese pumpkins in the background.

Cool fountain.

After a long afternoon and a ton of walking... ice cream all around!

Leena really enjoys her double chocolate bar!

Taryn chose the BIG cone and I ordered it without realizing just how BIG is was... 25 cm!!  Needless to say, she never saw the bottom of that cone.  Lesson learned, think twice before ordering BIG anything over here!