Bidding Farewell to Fall in Deutschland
There are a lot of places that know autumn – the Blue Ridge Mountains, Door County Wisconsin, Red Rocks Colorado, the list is endless. Like it’s American counterparts Germany knows autumn. A sepia tie-dye floods the trees, the ivy growing delicately on historic buildings bursts of yellows and oranges and the spirit of the season abounds with festivals and celebrations across the country.
On a particularly bright, crisp, Saturday a few weeks ago Dan, Jordan, and I hopped down the autobahn to explore the world’s largest pumpkin festival on the grounds of the Ludwigsburg Castle. Of course, Stuart was also in tow.
There were pumpkins for DAYS.
With a backdrop of the everrrr-so-beautiful castle we spent almost two hours wandering the grounds. This year the theme was ‘royalty’ so all the huge pumpkin sculptures had a royal theme; queen bee and her hive, the king of the jungle, the frog prince. It was a clever display of artwork and I appreciated the multilingual references.
As the evening passed we found ourselves tasty brats and interesting pumpkin fries. Sitting on picnic tables under a big, glowing autumnal sky I savored every bit of the moment.
Heading back to the car, we saw the festival king standing solemnly by a fountain with big flaming torches in hand. Although we haven’t the slightest as to what he was up to (what if he wasn’t even part of the festival?) hats off to Jordan for spotting this great shot.
After taking token pumpkin-crown/tierra shots, we scooted back to Heidelberg. You know, just your typical German Saturday evening.
A few days later, Stuart and I charged the mountains surrounding Heidelberg to try and capture the leaves at their peek.
While I mutated into a harvest shutterbug, Stuart was not impressed…
I couldn’t get enough of the colors. Ferns galore, molting oaks against still vibrant green grasses. The typical overcast sky couldn’t even rain on my fall foliage parade (too much?).
Descending back down to the river, the sky cleared into a delightful display of blues against the blazing oranges and caramels. My memory card didn’t stand a chance as I snapped away. Poor Stuart just wanted a stick.
So, how did you appreciate the season? A pumpkin festival, a stroll through the woods? Please, oh please, tell me you had a PSL.