Easter, Black Forest Style

 Sunday morning dawned in Strasbourg, and we woke to find this note...

The girls were out of bed like a shot but took awhile to locate where that wascally wabbit had hidden their baskets.  Squeals of delight ensued when they finally did though...

 As instructed, we skipped off to the nearest Rabbit Hole - Nana and Grampa's  room...

 And the search began in earnest...The Easter Bunny had left eggs in all of the most unlikely places.  And they had so much fun trying to figure out what crazy places the could look next.

 Hunt over, we packed our things into the car and set off for our Sunday drive.  We were headed over the river and through the woods...because it was a high holiday and NOTHING was open so we thought a leisurely drive through the Black Forest would be our best bet.  The roads were winding, and the rain was falling, and we were content to just sit and enjoy the scenery. I snapped a few pictures - through the car window...most of which did not turn out...

 We stopped for a bite to eat after locating a very quaint hotel restaurant that was open and had room for us, and we finished our drive by entering Freiburg - our final destination on our list.  Sadly, the weather had not cleared, it had gotten colder and even rainier.  We did set out to see some of the sights but ended up cutting our losses after the church.  We ducked into a restaurant that was open, again, for a beer in an attempt to warm up and stay dry.  We went to another restaurant directly after that, for dinner and then went back to the hotel for the night.  Freiburg just wasn't going to be one of those towns we were going to get to explore in depth.  That was ok though because we had saved it for Easter precisely because we knew that things would be closed.  We still got to see some of the sights as they were part of the town itself.

The Freiburg Münster (Cathedral Church) was started in the early 13th century, but much of it was destroyed in the bombing raids in World War II.  Surviving the strikes was the spire - said to be one of the most beautiful in the world - and is the only surviving medieval tower in Germany that was completed in the Middle Ages.

The Freiburg Bächle runs through the entire town.  An unusual system of gutters that used to provide water to help fight fires and feed livestock but never as a thoroughfare for sewage.  It is said that if you accidently step in one, you will marry a local.  Now, on beautiful days, you will find kids pulling boats by strings through them or people sitting down and soaking their feet while sipping a drink.  With the cold and the rain, neither of those things appealed to us.  So we skipped on down the road...

We passed the City Hall...

The red Historica Merchants' Hall...

And so many of these...

Located just in front of the doorway to most businesses in the old town, these medallions used to signify what type of business you would find inside.  Some of them are self - explanatory...

And some leave you scratching your head and wondering just what may have been here once upon a time...

 We also ran into these guys (and girl) surrounding a fountain.  I guess they didn't get the memo about the "non-sewage" use of the fountains and gutters, but they sure made us giggle.

 After a rainy night and facing another holiday (Easter Monday is celebrated in Germany also) we hopped back into our monster (the rental van)...

Stopped at another ridiculously cute restaurant in a picture-perfect village for lunch...

and made it home in time for dinner and to see this...

 And as promised - it snowed on Tuesday (we went to the mall).  Nana and Grampa bid us goodbye on Wednesday morning (along with Papa).  We were all a bit tired and a lot sad but mostly just happy that we had the chance to have such great adventures together for the past 2 weeks.

Die Kürbissusstellung

To me, nothing screams fall more than the leaves turning colors, tall boots with fuzzy sweaters and a yearly visit to the pumpkin patch.  Ever since we left the U.S. on these expat adventures of ours though finding each of those things at the same time has been tough.  In Chile - fall starts at the end of March which is not pumpkin growing season and usually not cold enough for boots/sweaters.  In Prague, the time of year was right but the pumpkin patches are limited to 1. This year. though, I hit the jackpot.  I stumbled upon the WORLD's Largest Pumpkin Festival and it is here in Germany!

Yes, Please!!!

The festival is held annually on the grounds of the Blündes Barock (Blooming Gardens) in Ludwigsburg.  The BlüBa (as it calls itself) is the oldest and, some say, most beautiful horticultural show in all of Germany.  Located on the grounds of the Ludwigsburg Residential Palace, the baroque gardens are extensive and impressive, even in late fall when other gardens have started to wither...

We wandered the grounds a bit as it was an adventure.  Around each fountain or hedge, there seemed to be another surprise.  We stumbled on small gated gardens, tables with metal canopies next to the koi pond, hedge mazes and so many still blooming flowers.  It was fun to just be outside on perhaps the last 70-degree day of the year.

We finally made our way over to the reason we were there - the pumpkin festival.

First, we stopped to snap a pic...

And then grabbed a snack of some of the best apples we have had in a long time...

We stopped and got some freshly roasted pumpkin seeds (Chilli-Sugar for us)...

And finally made our way onto the festival grounds.  This year the theme was The Circus.  Everywhere you looked you saw giant gourd covered creations that related to anything and everything you might see in the circus.  The artistry was amazing and the kids couldn't stop exclaiming on how cool the designs were...except for the clowns.  The clowns were a bit creepy they said...

We had specifically come on this day because it was the afternoon that the giant pumpkin carving contest was held.  We watched as the artists cut away flesh, slowly but steadily revealing their vision.

Yoda was the girls favorite.  Mine is this last one.

We then went in search of the super-sized giants.  They had held the European weigh off the weekend before and we were hoping to see the winners on display.  Before we could get there though we passed hundreds and hundreds of different types of pumpkins from all over the world.

Some typically American (and from the US)

And the bottom two are Stinkerbell and MadHatters favorites, respectively.

Finally, the big guys!  3rd and 2nd place were big...

But 1st Place was enormous!!!  So big, in fact, that it set a new WORLD record.  Weighing in at 1190.5 kg (2624.6 lbs).  It was massive.  And it was only the second time that a European grown pumpkin has set the World record.  The last time was in 2014.

It was very crowded this weekend at the festival so we went off in search of some space.  And some space we found.  Little did we know that the Palace grounds also houses a permanent Fairy Garden.  With small rides for the kids and life-sized dioramas of famous fairy tales set up all along its paths, this was heaven for the girls.  And allowed us to lose ourselves for an hour or so in a fairytale land.

It was getting way past lunchtime and we still needed to drive home, so we made our way back through the pumpkins in the opposite direction we entered so that we could see the last of the circus.

Stinkerbell picked a few leaves and MadHatter and Papa played a game of tag to get the last of the energy out before we got in the car to head home.  It was well worth the 2 hour drive and I can already tell you that we will be back next year if we are lucky enough to still be in Germany.  Join us next time, won't you?