A funny thing happened on the weekend. I met up with two people from my former high school in Sydney, here in Stuttgart.

One of them is studying here now, and the other was forced by his hotel in Berlin to like their Facebook page, which the other two of us then saw and commented on. He mentioned that he was traveling down to Munich and asked if that was near Stuttgart. There was nothing left to do, but to have a mini school reunion here, on the other side of the world.

After getting our friend to sample some Swabian delights (Maultaschen, Spätzle…) we spent the evening in our apartment relaxing and catching up. Seeing as he hadn’t found a place to stay (and slept in his car the previous night) we took it upon ourselves to let him stay over so that we could take him sightseeing the next day.

Traffic is a pain in Stuttgart so we figured we’d head out to Ludwigsburg, about 35-40 minutes up north. Now I’ve written about this place before, but it’s so beautiful and you can really spend a whole day there, so I thought I’d write a bit about it again.

Ludwigsburg Palace Courtyard

We left later in the day so there wasn’t much time to go into the actual Baroque-style palace, but we did take pictures outside of it and then we wandered through the garden (Blühendes Barock) and the fairytale garden. Proof that it’s so lovely there, was that we saw three brides and bridal parties while we were there! Two of them were celebrating their weddings and one was simply there for their wedding photos. The building itself is massive and is one of the largest Baroque buildings in Europe, in such good condition.

Roses in the palace gardens

Arriving in the late afternoon, we had discounted entry at 5.50€ instead of the usual 8.50€. There is so much to explore here and a little something for everyone. The gardens are lovely for a nice walk, and the fairytale garden is fun for both adults and children, with interactive stories and a small labyrinth.

There are guided tours and it’s definitely worth a visit if not just for the palace itself. Even without paying you can stand in the courtyard, eat at the restaurant/cafe and be amazed at the architecture and design of the palace.