Ludwigsburg, Germany
January, 2012
Monday, January 2 Ludwigsberg
Helmut took us to the bank this morning to work out why we could not access our account. They said that there was nothing wrong at their end. They called the Commonwealth Bank in Australia and we were on hold for 30 minutes. Once we got through, they discovered that the expiry date on our mastercard had been incorrectly entered. Instead of 11/12, they had on their system 12/11. Once they fixed it, we were able to withdraw money immediately.
Helmut leant us his Toyota after lunch, and we drove to Ludwigsburg. This was a huge palace built by Ludwig in the 1400s. In the 1800s, Frederick was crowned king of the region by Napoleon. He married Princess Charlotte from England, daughter of King George II and Queen Elizabeth I.
The palace was amazing. It had 493 rooms, and the gardens were spectacular, even in winter. We did an English tour at 1:30 that went for two hours. Inside there was even a theatre that is still used today. We met Carmen and Ruthie after our tour and they took us to a huge shopping centre in Ludwigsburg. Zeke and I explored on our own, while the girls shopped.
We followed Carmen home, but she turned off the highway unexpectedly, and I missed the turn. Luckily we had Ruth’s phone. She called us and told us that they were going to Ziegfried’s house because he was having a birthday party. Ruth gave us the directions and we somehow managed to find it. Ziegfried was turning 51, and all his brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews were there. There must have been over 50 people there. We met on niece, Simone and her husband, Jeff, who was from NZ.
We played some more billiards, and then Rachel gave us a tour of the house and factories. There are two huge factories and Bernie let me have a go at driving one of the tractor scoops. We were given a tour inside the four storey house and Rachel showed us her wedding photos. Carmen, Helmut and ruth left at 10pm. We stayed until 11:30.
Helmut took us to the bank this morning to work out why we could not access our account. They said that there was nothing wrong at their end. They called the Commonwealth Bank in Australia and we were on hold for 30 minutes. Once we got through, they discovered that the expiry date on our mastercard had been incorrectly entered. Instead of 11/12, they had on their system 12/11. Once they fixed it, we were able to withdraw money immediately.
Helmut leant us his Toyota after lunch, and we drove to Ludwigsburg. This was a huge palace built by Ludwig in the 1400s. In the 1800s, Frederick was crowned king of the region by Napoleon. He married Princess Charlotte from England, daughter of King George II and Queen Elizabeth I.
The palace was amazing. It had 493 rooms, and the gardens were spectacular, even in winter. We did an English tour at 1:30 that went for two hours. Inside there was even a theatre that is still used today. We met Carmen and Ruthie after our tour and they took us to a huge shopping centre in Ludwigsburg. Zeke and I explored on our own, while the girls shopped.
We followed Carmen home, but she turned off the highway unexpectedly, and I missed the turn. Luckily we had Ruth’s phone. She called us and told us that they were going to Ziegfried’s house because he was having a birthday party. Ruth gave us the directions and we somehow managed to find it. Ziegfried was turning 51, and all his brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews were there. There must have been over 50 people there. We met on niece, Simone and her husband, Jeff, who was from NZ.
We played some more billiards, and then Rachel gave us a tour of the house and factories. There are two huge factories and Bernie let me have a go at driving one of the tractor scoops. We were given a tour inside the four storey house and Rachel showed us her wedding photos. Carmen, Helmut and ruth left at 10pm. We stayed until 11:30.