Into Hamburg. We were hoping to park right outside the Miniatur Wunderland, the one place we really wanted to see in Hamburg, but by the time we got there, there were no parking spaces to be had. Okay, plan B! We knew of a parking place — its a bit much to call it a camping place — at the Fischmarkt, not that far from the Miniatur Wunderland. €14 gives you all-day parking and overnight — just what we needed. We found our way to the Fischmarkt, checked in, and parked. Went over to the chap at the entrance and asked him for a city map — he had everything we needed (albeit in German — but this didn't faze Warren!).
The River-boats' Church
We found that there was a ferry from the Altona (Fischmarkt) pier to Landungsbrücke, where we could catch the Unterbahn (which at this point is above ground) to Baumwall, from which it is a very short walk to Miniatur Wunderland.
For anyone brought up with model trains, Miniatur Wunderland is seventh heaven! It is the world's largest model railway, and has sections representing Switzerland, Germany (Bavaria, Knuffingen with its airport, Central Germany, Hamburg), Scandinavia, and America. A new section, Italy, is under construction, France/Monaco and Spain are under development and we believe that South Africa is in the planning stages.
If it were only a model railway, you would expect mostly male visitors. But the people setting it up have an emphasis on telling 'stories', and have model figures in all sorts of situations — so many, that you could keep coming back and finding more and more of the hidden stories. For example, there is a murder mystery hidden in the place, and a family of penguins returning from holiday, and a UFO landing, a young couple making love amid the sunflowers, Father Christmas trying to get into a toilet, a flock of sheep blocking traffic, and it goes on and on — it's almost like a 3-dimensional version of "Where's Wally?" There is a huge soccer arena with a match in progress, and there is a rock concert with DJ Bobo and over 20,000 little fans, and the Hamburg Philharmonic performing in its new hall.
Archaeologists digging up the past (in the snow!)
Archaeologists digging up the past (in the snow!)
We even watched Gertie doing her thing!
Schloß Neuschwanstein -- we hope to visit the real thing in a few days!
The whole display runs through a day-night cycle every 15 minutes, so you see each section not only by daylight, but at dusk, through the night and dawn onto the next day. The lighting effects are spectacular! The day/night cycle runs by switching different proportions of white, red and violet fluorescent tubes over the displays, and of course lighting up the headlights, street lighting, house lighting — and even the lights in the carriages of the trains. The attention to detail is totally amazing!
Hamburg Zoo
Hamburg Zoo
From time to time, the illusion is shattered, when a full-sized hand or a whole person appears 'on set' to put something to rights - to put a train back on its tracks, to adjust some of the scenery — or just to make movies of the whole thing!
For those hooked on statistics, here are a few about Miniatur Wunderland — both for now, and for when the place is completed according to current plans (in about 2020).
| Current | After completion | |
|---|---|---|
| Model Area | 1,300 m2 | 2,300 m2 |
| Theme Worlds | 8 | 12 |
| Track Length | 13,000 m | almost 20,000 m |
| Trains | 930 | >1,300 |
| Wagons | 14,450 | 20,000 |
| Longest Train | 14.51 m | 14.51 m |
| Signals | 1,270 | 1,900 |
| Switches | 3,050 | 4,000 |
| Computers | 46 | 64 |
| Lights | approx. 335,000 | over 500,000 |
| Figurines | 215,000 | 300,000 |
| Trees | 228,000 | 330,000 |
| Construction Time | 580,000 hours | 850,00 hours |
The control room
Possibly the most amazing part of the whole place is Knüffingen Airport. Planes collect around the terminal building, then taxi out onto the runways, and actually take off. Later on, the same planes will come in for landings, and taxi to the terminal, not necessarily to the same gates. Support vehicles come up to them — the whole activity of a busy airport. There is a display of arrivals and departures, as at any airport, and the planes run to this schedule. And it is all run automatically under computer control! Brilliant — and quite good fun to watch!
And the rules of the place are not exactly restrictive — we quote — "We kindly ask our guests ... to make extensive use of their photo or video camera, because it's not only free of charge but also explicitly encouraged."
After at least four hours of utter enjoyment, we finally left. What a wonderful way to spend a wet day in Hamburg! Basically, back on the train and the ferry to where we had parked.
Distance driven — today, 20 miles ( 32 km ); to date, 26,959 miles ( 43,388 km )
What a grat fun day and out of the rain too. Love, Cathy
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