Our First Month Living in Germany
WOW! It’s been one whole month since we moved to Germany for my husband’s next assignment with the United States Army. Crazy how fast time flies! If you want to get technical, we arrived on September 5th so it’s been a bit more than a month.. but, after a poll on Instagram we all decided that our time here didn’t really start until our toddlers were out of quarantine on September 15th. Sooooooo, it’s been a month as of today!
Our last year and a half in the PNW at Joint Base Lewis-McChord was pretty blah. Lockdowns and all that made it pretty difficult to get out and with my husband gone we really just stayed home. The risk of getting sick with no support in the state was too big for me and we had no choice but to hunker down and wait it out. Transitioning from a deployment ending and then moving to a new country all within a few weeks has beena MASSIVE adjustment for all of us. I miss my oldest babe who is in California for the school year with his dad. I miss my family and friends. I miss Target pickups and knowing that anywhere I go someone will speak the same language. Moving overseas is a BIG change.
Thankfully, we have been keeping ourselves super busy! We purchased a car, moved into our new home, toured castles and palaces and so much more! We’ve been busy exploring and have been planning a ton of new adventures for the future. It’s been wild and so much fun! Here are a couple of our favorite adventures from our first month living in Germany!
Kürbisausstellung Ludwigsburg
Top of our list is hands down the Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival. It is only 30 minutes from Stuttgart making it such an easy day trip with little kids. The Kürbisausstellung Ludwigsburg is the largest pumpkin festival in the world. With over 600 different varieties and more than 450,000 pumpkins on the grounds for the event. Each year there is a new theme and this year was Under-Water, which featured sculptures of a mermaid, a scuba diver, a shark you could stand in and so much more!
Of course, a pumpkin festival is going to have pumpkin food and the selection here did not disappoint. From pesto pumpkin spaghetti, pumpkin soup and pumpkin prosecco.. there are so many things to choose from. Our favorites were the pumpkin seeds and the pesto pumpkin spaghetti! We also brought home some pumpkin prosecco and it was DELICIOUS! OH! And definitely grab a waffle. Not pumpkin flavored but still a must.
Pro-Tip.. We have been twice so far so we are definitely not pro status yet but I can 1000% say going on a weekday is far better than the weekend. The first time we went was a Sunday and it was so crowded. There were long lines for everything and with toddlers it just made it so much less enjoyable. Our second time going was on a Friday, first thing in the morning and it was so much easier to navigate and enjoy without fighting the crowds.
Another note. The festival is at the Ludwigsburg Residential Palace which is stunning. The gardens are huge and the festival only takes place on a small portion. Give yourself time to take a peek inside the palace and enjoy more than just the festival. OR. Plan to go back for more fun because there are so many wonderful things to see here!
For more information on this festival click here.
Burg Hohenzollern
This castle was built around 1000 and completely destroyed. Rebuilt in 1454 and later left in ruins, the current edition was built around 1819 by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. The castle is in Bisingen Germany, about an hour from Stuttgart. Another fun and easy day trip with toddler (are you seeing a theme here?) and such an easy drive.
As we neared the city of Bisingen we saw a handful of Antique stores and notable restaurants that we would definitely come back to with more time. We didn’t stop because we only planned for a half day here but given more time you could easily make a full day trip and explore the town more than we did. Near the castle parking lot we saw a ton of hiking trails so if you’re more the outdoorsy type, you could definitely do a hike to the castle and pack a picnic.
We purchase tickets for the 10am timeslot and took the complimentary bus from the parking lot to the castle entrance, because well.. kids.. 😉 We were one of three groups for the first hour and it made for such an enjoyable experience! Easy to take photographs with our trust tripod and no concern for crowds when walking the grounds or even the interior. It was so pleasant! If you have kids you know that crowds can be cause for chaos and make things more difficult with toddlers. We definitely recommend beating the crowds for an early slot or going on a weekday.
Check out this website for more information on the Castle’s history, ticket information and information on the events they host throughout the year. We’ll be back in December for the Royal Winter Magic!
In Summary
Hard to believe we went from barely leaving the house to touring castles and attending pumpkin festivals at a Palace in Germany… but that’s life as a Military spouse! You never know what adventure is next and there is always something new waiting just around the corner. There were just two things we did this month. We also went to our first Biergarten, explored a handful of new cities and ate so much delicious new food!
Stay tuned for more adventures in our second month living in Germany! We have some fun stuff planned and can’t wait to share with you.
