Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Kurbisausstellung in Ludwigsburg, Germany. This is the largest pumpkin festival in Europe. 

Contests are held for the largest pumpkins in Germany and in Europe. These are huge pumpkins!  Last year the heaviest pumpkin was 1054 kg!

This festival is also huge. It doesn't look that big when you first arrive but the majority of the festival is located behind the palace.

There are a variety of pumpkin foods as well as typical German foods. I went out on a limb and tried the vegetarian pumpkin burger. It was delicious!

The pumpkin sculptures (I guess you could call them) were very impressive!

We bought two small pumpkins, which I let Elsie pick out.  I never knew the were so many types of pumpkin!

We had a really good time at this festival and I would highly recommend it! 

Festivals to Attend: Wilhelmstraßenfest!

Wilhelmstraßenfest is held annually on the second weekend in June in Wiesbaden, Germany. It is located on Wilhelmstraße and surrounds the Hessian State Theater. First started in 1977 to honor the reopening of the theater, it is now one of the largest street festivals in Germany! We were fortunate enough to attend the festival this year and we had a blast!

There are plenty of rides for the little ones and food and drink stands as far as you can see! We had bratwursts, thai food, and of course BIER! There was also a lot of strawberry and fruit infused prosecco which was yummy! 

It was packed! So unfortunately these people ended up in my shots of the decorations haha.

There was a ferris wheel in front of the kurhaus as well! along with over 100 craft vendors!

There were at least 4 or 5 stages where bands were playing continuously. We stopped and watched for a couple of hours. Flo & Chris was the cover band playing and they were amazing! Very entertaining, I would definitely watch another one of their shows!

Here's us being silly. We had so much fun! We wish we had known it was such a big event and can't wait to go back next year! 

Travel To: Cologne, Germany

If you're in Germany and haven't been to Cologne yet, don't wait any longer! We went there last weekend to see the Dom Cathedral and it was amazing!! The first thing you see when driving into Cologne is the cathedral which towers over the whole city.

It really is hard to believe how big the cathedral is until you see it in person. The architecture and detailing is absolutely beautiful! After doing a little research I found out it actually took 600 years for it to be built! Like many attractions in Europe, parts of it are under scaffolding. 

The inside of the cathedral is just as impressive as the outside! There is a lot to see inside the cathedral with several alters and art work. The windows are all massive beautiful stained glass scenes. It really takes your breath away. Someone told us you can walk up into the spire somehow but we didn't see that anywhere but there are also things to see in the basement. The cathedral still holds services daily and there was a small service on one side of the building going on when we were there. 

Another great thing about Cologne is that it is also located along the Rhein River. The river is lined with parks where you can sit and enjoy the weather or just go for a walk. There is also a really cool water fountain area where your kids (or dog in our case) can cool off. I wish I had taken a picture of the fountain area but you'll know what I am talking about when you see it.  Here is a view of the river.

Cologne also is known for it's very own type of beer called Kölsch. We tried it and we LOVED it! We couldn't wait until dinner to try it so we bought some for only 1,50 Euro from a small convenient store type of place. 

But it wouldn't be a trip to Cologne without a stop at a local brauhaus for dinner, where we also drank Kölsch and ate some amazing German food. 

We spent most of our time in Cologne walking around "old town" and visiting the cathedral, but Cologne is also known for it's shopping! There is a TON of shopping to do if that's what your there for, especially designer things. There's a Louis Vuitton right next to the cathedral! 

Here's a picture of us enjoying our day! Have any of you been to Cologne? What was your favorite part of the city? 

Travel To: Eltville, Germany

Eltville is a small town on the river Rhine about 15 minutes from Wiesbaden. While it is not a tourist destination in itself, it is definitely worth a stop if you are in the area. There are a few streets with shops and restaurants, though we did not stop anywhere to eat while we were there. It was a lot more quiet than the towns we have visit so far which was really relaxing.

Like many towns along the Rhine, it has it's own castle. The castle is not very big and part of it seems to be used for weddings and other gatherings. There was a wedding going on there when we visited this past weekend. There is also a tourist information center inside. 

The best part of Eltville was the castle gardens. The gardens had the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen. We spent quite awhile wandering the gardens and looking out over the Rhine. The weather was perfect for it.

So if you're in the area, stop by Eltville and check out all this little town has to offer. 

Travel To: Heidelberg, Germany

This past weekend we went to Heidelberg! We mostly went there on a whim to see Heidelberg Castle. It was beautiful! Totally worth the trip! The weather was beautiful which made for great pictures.

One thing I would suggest when going to visit the castle is to be prepared for walking up steps or a huge hill. There is supposedly a funicular train that goes up there but we just walked. I would recommend good walking shoes although I wore flip flops and did fine. You can walk up to the castle and in the gardens for free. The castle gardens were closed when we went though. Once you get down the first hallway you reach a ticket booth where you can pay to go inside or go on a tour. We could not go on a tour because we had our puppy with us, which was fine because we'd rather explore on our own anyway. It was 6 euro each for us to go in the castle. Not a bad price considering we spent almost 2 hours there and got a ton of great pictures! There's a pharmacy museum inside as well as a cafe and a bar. There are also food vendors at the back of the castle which sell refreshments.

After the castle we walked around the city for a bit. There were restaurants and shops lining the streets.

Heidelberg boarders the River Neckar which leads to the River Rhine. There were many people on the river canoeing and boating. There are also several bridges that go over the river. We stopped on one that seemed to be for pedestrians only. The view was spectacular!

We ended our trip with dinner at a restaurant called Mohr. This restaurant had a menu that was numbered with different toppings and you could pick whether you wanted those toppings on a burger or on schnitzel. We had burgers and they were pretty good. I would eat there again.

We only spent an afternoon in Heidelberg but had a great time! It would definitely be worth visiting again.

Travel To: Wiesbaden, Germany

I am going to start a series of posts on places we have traveled or explored while living in Europe, called "Travel To". This first post is going to be about the town we live in, Wiesbaden, Germany.

Wiesbaden is located along the Rhine river in middle-western Germany. You could say it is an affluent community. There are a lot of upscale shopping centers and restaurants. But there is also a lot of beautiful architecture.

It is hard not to enjoy the many parks Wiesbaden has to offer as well as the markets that take place in the plazas on a regular basis.

There is also an extensive night life in Wiesbaden, but drinks can get pricey (for us at least), at about nine Euro for mixed drinks. Beer is cheaper though, this is Germany.