Schloss Solitude

Now that the sun has decided to come out and play, we've been trying to get out to play too.  Brandon has been wanting to take us to see Schloss Solitude for a few weeks now, but this was the first weekend that the weather was nice for it.  It was wonderful!  I don't know why we've never gone before.  Apparently Brandon does runs out to the Schloss with his unit sometimes, but I didn't even know it existed until he mentioned something about it a few weeks ago.

The walk from the parkplatz to the Schloss was just as nice as the Schloss itself.  There was a narrow road, with matching paths to either side of it.  We strolled on up the sun-dappled, gravel path, stopping to take pictures here and there.  I actually lagged behind them a bit, because I was stopping more than they were.  There was a large open field on the other side of this little road, and a horse pasture on our side.  We pointed the horses out to Elora, but she didn't really pay them much attention at this point.

I was a little disappointed in the Schloss at first, because I saw this and thought it was the front of the building, but it was only the side of it.  The front of the building faces a gently sloping hill, and has a splendid view of (we think) Ludwigsburg in the valley below.

Schloss Solitude was built in the late 18th century as a secluded, palatial hunting lodge.  It was so expensive to maintain , however, that it was sold or rented to house various schools and academies through the years and is now a museum and special event venue.  This is where Mary had her Junior Prom--this totally trumps the Space Center, any day!  I could just imagine flowing up those curving stairs in a formal gown...  I'd have felt just like Cinderella at the ball.  Oh well, it's lovely to dream, right?

Anyway, we had a good time checking it out.  This is the valley view from the balcony:

We decided to skip on the tour this time, and head on back to the car after exploring around the outside. This time, Brandon lagged behind with the camera.

We lucked out; a couple of the horses had moved closer to the fence, probably to take advantage of the shade there.  Elora showed more interest in them this time.  

She kept saying "cat", just like she did when she saw people with dogs.  (Apparently, all quadruped mammals are "cats", as far as she is concerned.) So I kept saying "horse".

 

We stopped on the way home to take a picture of our little town and the surrounding fields, now that the sun has come out and all is green.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and I hope our fair weather holds!