Surprise!!!

Can you read the sign? Yes, it says... if you want to go to Stuttgart, head straight. If you want to go to Pattonville, hang a left...

Do you wonder where we are? You guessed it! Ludwigsburg! We had been toying around with the idea of going for a while, and since we didn't have any plans this weekend, we decided to go yesterday. It's only 2 hours from here, so I can't believe we haven't made it there before.

For those of you who don't know, my family lived in Germany from 1984 to 1986, and here's where we lived... that was our building below at Stuttgarter Strasse. They've converted them into regular apartment buildings now that the Americans are gone. But with only a few minor differences it still looks much the same as when we lived there!

Look the plastic, green dome is still there! Covered with graffiti of course.

And here's our building... that was our flat, up on the 2nd floor to the right of the door. They've added balconies...

This was my window... (fascinating, I know)

And here was my sister's windows... (Don't tell my Mom, but I know for a fact that she used to sneak out of the house through one of those!)

And another view of the playground.

And, right around the corner... yep! Alexandereck's is still there!

We even went inside, and spoke to the lady running the place now. Her grandfather was running it when we lived there. The were quite welcoming. Too bad we had just eaten at McDonald's! We could have eaten there!! Oh well, next time...

And here's me and Luna outside our building again!

And then of course, we walked down to the Schloss. I used to walk here with my friend's when I was a girl. I absolutely loved it! Can you imagine anything more spectacular to a young girl, than imagining life at the castle, once upon a time???

We took our Christmas card picture one year at this spot...

The castle was built by crazy King Ludwig II (before he started on Neuschwanstein, I assume.) And it was modeled after Versailles. It's not quite as big, but it is absolutely huge. And the manicured gardens are amazing, and were even still blooming beautifully at the end of September! And we were blessed with a gorgeous day to boot!

The castle is as deep as it is wide, by the way!

This was cool, it was set out in front of the castle in this case. Apparently, they made this sun-dial, fitted with a miniature cannon for the purpose of announcing lunch hour... bit different than clanging a triangle!

On the grounds they were having an Herbstfest complete with thousands of pumpkins arranged into every imaginable creation...

And then we went to the Märchengarten. The Märchengarten was always my favorite reason for coming to the Schloss as a girl. It is designed for kids, and tells all the old fairy tales in a theme park fashion. It was always quite magical as a child...

Here's the witches house from Hansel and Gretel...

That's her sticking her head out the door there... look out Luna!

And this is Red Riding Hood.... look out for Gramma, Red!

One of lots of concrete mushrooms decorating the walks...

And at the end of the magical trail, we hit the maze. No, it's not quite the same as a corn maze, but it will have to do!

But when you finally get to the center of the maze, this one os much cooler! You find a pond with two royal frogs, who are delighted to squirt you with water when you try to hop-scotch across the stepping stones in the water...

So that was it, before we headed home. We had a great time, Luna loved it, and it was so much fun to see again. Hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane!