Tramps Abroad: Schwetzingen in the Fall

We recently discovered the delightful town of Schwetzingen. It's just a twenty minute bus ride from where we live.

This town is obsessed with asparagus. There is a huge asparagus festival in the spring and random asparagus carvings on several of the buildings around town. Here is my favorite asparagus icon--a statue of a woman and her daughter collecting and bundling aspargus. The first statue I've ever seen that celebrates asparagus!

But the real reason to go to Schwetzingen is to see the castle and its gardens. It was constructed in the 1700's to be the summer home of the local rulers. The castle itself isn't too amazing (as far as castles go), but most of the original furniture and decorations remain and have been restored to how it looked in the 1750's. We took a guided tour of the palace (in German!), which was actually one of the best castle tours I've done. Thankfully the father summarized the German descriptions for me, and the guide handed me a leaflet in English that had most of the info. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so all I have to show is the view of the front of the castle.

But people don't come to Schwetzingen to see the castle; they come to see the gardens. They are huuuge!!!

The fall foilage was approaching its peak, which made for some gorgeous views.

The older parts of the gardens are in the formal French style, while the newer (newer, meaning late 1700's) are in the more natural English style.

Penelope enjoyed being wheeled around the gardens in her chariot.

There were huge statues everywhere. Penelope was particularly fond of this one of hunting dogs bringing down a deer. (Let's hope this doesn't point towards a violent streak in her future.)