Tuesday 30 November 2021

Dream Paths of Light

Sounds a bit odd, doesn't it? That's my fault - I have been thinking about how best to translate "Leuchtende Traumpfade", the title given to a festival held in Ludwigsburg's palace grounds from the end of October until next Sunday. "Lit-up dreamy paths"? "Illuminated paths of dreams"? Never mind the name - it was beautiful!

This festival was originally planned for last year but then did not come about due to the pandemic. When it was announced that it was going to go ahead this year, my Mum immediately said she wanted to go, and so one November evening (on the 17th, to be precise) after work, my sister and I met up with her at the main gates of the palace grounds.

The palace grounds are vast, and the "paths of light" do not cover the entire ground. Instead, things are arranged so that visitors can follow a sign-posted round trip of about 1.5 km. Of course it is not easy to take good pictures at night, but between my sister and myself, I have manged to cobble together this post and give quite a good impression of what it was like. As a rule of thumb, you can say that the better pictures are my sister's, and the more blurry ones are my own.








I loved this bit particularly - there was a bubble blower at the side of the path, and the stream of bubbles was lit up. Enchanting!

The decorative castle (it never was a real castle, but only built as a folly) had a waterfall and a "lightfall" coming down the rock it stands on:

The circuit did not actually lead up to this small temple, but it was illuminated and looked very pretty:

Visitors from the Deep Sea! Their tentacles were slowly moving in the wind, really making it look as if they were in the water.



We took a rest in the orangery, which was open and showing Christmas decorations. 

Last but not least, the tree-lined main path connecting two different parts of the palace grounds was like a tunnel of light beams, in constant movement.



It was an enjoyable couple of hours, and I am really glad we went. As you can see, there were other visitors about, but not too many; we always felt safe and comfortable, and of course everyone was checked at the gates.

My sister and I waited with our Mum at the bus stop before we walked home, and as the bus pulled up and the door opened, I saw that the driver was a friend of mine - he drove our Mum home safely, and later even sent me a quick message to let me know he had dropped her off at her stop as requested :-) Of course he would have done that anyway, but it was nice to see him and have a (very) brief chat.

That evening, we did not yet know that the Christmas market was going to be cancelled; all the more I am now glad we had at least this outing together.

22 comments:

  1. Your mum made a good choice, it looks fabulous. Thank you for the photographs.

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    1. You are welcome, Rachel, and thank YOU for reading and commenting.

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  2. What a lovely Christmas treat for you all, I love the floating 'tentacles'.

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    1. They really looked as if we were in deep, dark waters, and like most of the light installations, kept slowly changing colours.

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  3. So happy your mother was able to join you and your sister for such a nice evening event. Pretty great bus service for her, too!

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    1. That was a nice little extra about my friend being the bus driver!

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  4. It all looks very pretty - these light shows become more and more popular here too,

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    1. It was the first time I've been to one. Makes you really see a familiar place in a different light.

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  5. I enjoyed this gorgeous evening very much, especially while those events are very rare for me.
    Thanks for the beautiful fotos, my dear daughters!

    Meikes Mum

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    1. You are welcome, dear Mama! We enjoyed it very much, too.

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  6. What a treat for the three of you! The photos are great and it looks like a beautiful event. A nice Christmas memory for you! Thanks for sharing it with me!

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    1. It certainly did light up November for us, Ellen! You are welcome; thank YOU for reading and commenting.

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  7. Such a wonderful thing that you could all go together!

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    1. It was a "Ladies Only" event - sadly, things like that are not possible for my Dad anymore, but he was perfectly happy for my Mum to go. She later showed him the pictures on the big TV screen via her iPad, and he enjoyed that.

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  8. "Dream Paths" is perfect in English.

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    1. Thank you! I try to write proper English, but I know I do not always succeed.

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  9. Looks like a nice kind of outdoors event for the time of year, and considering the pandemic as well.

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    1. It was just what we needed - a bit of magic in a decidedly un-magic time.

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  10. I really enjoy light displays and you've caught them so well. I particularly love the 'jellyfish'.

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    1. They were really good, and made for good pictures, whereas most of the other installations did not come across on static pictures as well as they did in real life, moving, changing colours and so on.

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  11. What a lovely evening you had. We have a castle a short distance from our town and they do a similar thing each year, calling it The Spectacle of Light. Thanks for sharing :)

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    1. Thank YOU for reading and commenting, Karen! Yes, it was a lovely evening; such outings have become very rare for us with our Mum and are therefore even more precious.

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