Thursday, November 1, 2012

Happy Halloween!

Halloween in Germany is, hmmm... how should I word this... still developing.  Most stores had a tiny - as in maybe one kiosk - display of Autumn/Halloween things like felt leaf cutouts, plastic fangs and maybe a few scary window clings and black capes.  Halloween candy as we know it was pretty much non-existent as far as I could see.  I had been told otherwise but then again, many people who are affiliated with the military have access to the Commissary on base which has all things American.

Peter did get a little bit of Halloween fun in at his Cub Scouts meeting on base Monday evening.  It wasn't much but my sweet Pete made the most of it and had a fun time with his scout buddies.  Thankfully, I brought his NASA astronaut costume from last year with us and he wore that and looked awesome, if I do say so myself.

I did buy some candy (don't think Costco here!) to have just in case.  We were told that "the Germans" know where the Americans live and will come begging for candy.  What gives us away?  Our Target Halloween clings in the windows?!  Well, we did get some trick-or-treaters.  4 to be exact.  All together in the same group.  Mike's coworker friend lives a couple buildings away and brought his 2 kids and 2 of their friends.  They were all dressed up "scary" but I don't think they completely understood the premise.  2 kids had tiny plastic bags that looked like they could maybe hold 10 mini candy bars.  The other 2 kids had nothing!  Luckily, part of the Halloween goodies we received from the boys' grandmas had a few little bags so I gave those to the boys without.

So, as far as I can see Halloween is still very much an American holiday!

We *did* do something fall-ish and Halloween-ish this past weekend.  We drove about 40 min north to the Ludwigsburg Palace.  This is a gorgeous Baroque palace built around 1704 that amazingly survived WWII.  Each year they have the world's largest Pumpkin Festival on their massive and beautiful garden grounds.  There is a different theme every year - from the Jurassic era to creatures of the oceans.  This year was a tad lame, in my opinion... it was all about Switzerland.  I think the young ones (and me, I have to say!) would rather see dinos and whales built out of gourds.  Anyways, they have around 500,000 pumpkins, 450 varieties and pumpkin-inspired tasty treats and drinks.  Unfortunately, the weather was miserable.  We had just gotten snow and the temps were just above freezing.  We did have a good time despite this and hope to return next year, possibly earlier in the season with more fall-like weather.  Also can't wait to tour the inside of the palace... a great winter "indoors" activity, as well as tour the fabulous gardens in the summer.

Below are some picts of our Fall adventures.  If you click on one pict, I think a slideshow pops up on screen to allow you to flip thru them larger.   :)










2 comments:

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  2. Happy Belated Halloween to Peter and Mark!
    Love, Cousin Barb

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