The Smallest State on Earth

 

In my last post I promised to tell you about our "real" reason for going to Hamburg, our destination located within the historical Speicherstadt. The picture above is a clue and those of you who already guess where we went - congratulations!

It's the no. 1 tourist destination in Germany (no, it's not Neuschwanstein Castle!)

Miniatur Wunderland ("miniature wonderland") has been on my wishlist for a long time. Both the Geek and Kaefer had already been there and have raved about it ever since. They really wet my appetite!

The largest model railway in the world started out with three theme worlds in August 2001 (Central Germany, Knuffingen - a fictional town -, and Austria) - by now there are 12 complete sections, spread over two buildings in the Speicherstadt, connected by a bridge over Kehrwiederfleet. The newest section is Monaco (the background in the top photo) which had opened in April 2024. At the moment they are working on the Rainforest and Atacama Desert.

This is a very photo-heavy post. I've tried to consolidate the photos, but it's still a lot. I've decided to divide Miniatur Wunderland in three parts. Today I concentrate on Germany and Europe. Please come with me and let your inner child experience the wonders of this big small world.

Right at the entrance is the big stadium that is crowded for a concert of popular German singer Helene Fischer. In the right hand photo you can see how detailed the audience is created - every single person with so much love for detail. Simply amazing.

We start out with Provence where the lavender is in full bloom at Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque. After that maybe cross the Pont du Gard?

Or do you prefer to go to Italy and visit Cinque Terre and San Gimignano? Or would you rather have an audience with the Pope? Or just tour Rome?

Of course you want to visit Pompeii - just make sure not to be there when Vesuvius errupts (which it does every 15 minutes in Wunderland).

The days in Wunderland are very short - 15 minutes. Then it gets dark and everything is beautifully illuminated for a few minutes until the "new" day dawns. 

Venice at night...

... and during daylight.

The Hundertwasserkirche in Bärnbach, Austria. This is a beautiful church which was built after WWII and then in 1988 rededsigned by the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. I have seen the "real" church and can attest that the model is exquisitely done.

And what will we find further up in Northern Europe? A sauna of course!!!

I was thrilled with all the details - no wonder that we spent more than seven hours here, because there was so much to see.

Farmers market and a natural history museum.

Laundry day, plein air painting, a playground and a truck that was losing its wheels of cheese that it had been carrying. Oh what fun!

There is also the opportunity to play minigolf and when you're done you can go to the pumpkin patch.

There was a lot of action going on as well. Here are the fire trucks racing to extinguish a house fire.

It is no surprise that Hamburg plays a major role in Wunderland, but it doesn't dominate it. Here are the Landungsbrücken (embarkation quay):

Of course Köhlbrandbrücke (Koehlbrand bridge) is quite prominent - it's an important landmark of Hamburg.

Remember that in my last post I wrote about Elbphilharmonie, the beautiful concert hall in Hamburg? Of course it's in Wunderland as well, and here you can actually look inside. You just press a button and the building opens up.

Renewable energy is important in Germany and it's no wonder that wind turbines have found their way into Wunderland as well. There are a lot of wind turbines in Germany, especially near and in the North Sea. And do you notice all the roof top solar panels?

The heart and probably most exciting part of Wunderland is the airport.

Some very interesting objects are flying here, like Biene Maja (a children's classic).

But there are also "real" planes landing and taking off at this busy airport.

As a child I loved to play with my brother's model railway. I was actually the one who enjoyed assembling the model houses (these are all HO gauge) and seeing so many of them in Wunderland brought back a lot of childhood memories. I especially liked (and still do) the old timber-framed houses. I had quite a few of the following.

At the top I mentioned that Neuschwanstein Castle - that many in the US only know as the Disney Cinderella castle - is NOT the most visited tourist attraction in Germany, but you can sure see it in Wunderland. Why not turn into a Bavarian beer garden afterwards?

There are a lot of bridges in the mountains and high up you might find some peace in a monastery. It's a long way up there!

So much lovely details in the mountainous world. A bear stealing honey while the beekeeper is taking a nap in the hammock, sheep on a mountain meadow with their shepherd and walking up a winding mountain road (the letter M was part of a game the day we visited).

If you have never seen an Almabtrieb (festival celebrating the return of cattle from high-altitude summer pastures in the Alps to the valleys at the end of summer), here's your chance:

Who is hiding here? It's Fuchur, the luckdragon from Michael Ende's Die Unendliche Geschichte ("Falkor" in English, from The NeverEnding Story).

Of course there are tunnels in the mountains (and elsewhere) and there were many in Wunderland. Again, such love to detail. I think many of the model cars in Wunderland are by the company SIKU from Lüdenscheid in the Sauerland, where I grew up. Summer jobs at SIKU were highly sought after.

And now the details I fell in love with. They show some characters that were highly popular when I was a kid. I think they're still are, otherwise they probably wouldn't have made an appearance in Wunderland.

Pippi Langstrumpf (Pippi Longstocking), the strongest little girl in the world, was my favorite fictional heroine when I grew up. Astrid Lindgren's books were extremely popular in my childhood and I hope they still are.

Käptn Blaubär, an anthropormophic talking bear with blue fur who lives in the very north of Germany and spins tall tales. Oh, and please note the yellow telephone booth - that's a classic by now!

Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer ("Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver"), based on a book by Michael Ende (the Fuchur creator, see above) and lovingly recreated by Augsburger Puppenkiste (marionette theater in Augsburg, Germany). Augsburger Puppenkiste made wonderful little marionette movies based on several children's books, the most popular ones being the Urmel series by Max Kruse and Jim Knopf. I can still hear the Jim Knopf song Eine Insel mit zwei Bergen - here's a short video if you're interested, with characters from the marionette theater. How much we loved this as children (and I still do!).

Sesame Street - or Sesamstraße as it is called in German - was popular in Germany, too. My personal favorite was Oscar, but I also liked Ernie and Bert. Please note who's in their kitchen, eating all the cookies!

If you're still reading this, thank you. No Wunderland would be complete without a German Christmas market. Mhm, I can almost smell the roasted almonds.

Do you think all these tiny faces count for Nicole's Friday Face Off? If not, at least the ones in the first photo.

Next time in Wunderland: The US (very little), Brasil, Patagonia and Antarctica.

Germany's Gate to the World

 

The day after we had returned from Antwerpen we took the train to Hamburg. In Germany you can buy something called "Deutschlandticket" (Germany ticket) which costs €49 for a month (in November of last year) and allows you to ride any local or regional train for free in that month as well as public transportation in many German cities. You cannot ride the high speed ICE train (nothing to do with Immigration and Customs Enforcement) or any long-distance trains. It's only allowed on regional trains, but that can get you through the entire country if you don't mind changing trains in between (and sometimes missing a train because of delays or even cancellations). The ICE from Münster to Hamburg (about 250 km) takes less than three hours; taking the regional train takes much longer. There is also a DB (Deutsche Bahn; German Rail) app that is really helpful in planning your route as well as informing you whether your train will be late, if there is a change in platform etc.

We had time and didn't mind the longer journey. We had to change trains twice - in Osnabrück and in Bremen. Our train was delayed, so we didn't make our connection in Osnabrück and had to wait an hour for the next one (thankfully on this busy route the trains run fairly often). There was a nice café in the station where we sat, ate some pastry and had a good cup of coffee. I enjoyed the train ride a lot - I was knitting, looking out the window, reading, chatting with my family. Many of the regional trains are double deck and we loved sitting on the upper deck. We had no problem getting our connection in Bremen and arrived in Hamburg sometime in the afternoon where we then took the subway - for free, since Hamburg is one of the cities where you can use public transportation with the Deutschlandticket.

My mother-in-law met us at the subway station and we first went to her place - she lives in a tiny appartment - and later took a stroll down to the Elbe (the river that runs through Hamburg). As you can see, despite being a big city - the second-largest city in Germany after Berlin - it has a lot of parks and many tree-lined streets. Often there are playgrounds in these parks, and the "kids" in my family couldn't just pass by.

Down at the river we found a nice restaurant where we had an early dinner and also tasted a flight of eggnog (called Eierlikör in German).

For Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday

We eventually said our goodbyes and we took the subway to our accomodation for the following two nights. The next morning we went to a nearby bakery that also served breakfast - we had coffee and freshly baked rolls with boiled egg, Mett (yes, that is raw ground meat) and Fleischsalat (salad with strips of bologna-style sausage, gherkins and mayonnaise dressing) - pure heaven!

Also for T Tuesday

Then to the subway and a ride to Baumwall station.

What are they photographing?

This funny shaped glass building.

The Elbphilharmonie, one of the coolest concert halls on the planet.

Elphi, as it is nicknamed, was built on top of an old brick warehouse near the historical Speicherstadt (warehouse district) in the Hafencity quarter of Hamburg. Depending on who you ask, the modern construction resembles a hoisted sail, a water wave, an iceberg or a quartz crystal - take your pick. I like the description of hoisted sail best since Elphi is located in the harbor of Hamburg - this port is the reason why Hamburg is also called Germany's gate to the world. The Elbphilharmonie was officially opened on January 11, 2017, almost ten years after construction had begun.

It is a truly amazing building. Here you can see a bit more of its unique architecture.

However, this was not the "real" reason why we went to Hamburg, even though the Elbphilharmonie has been on my list of "must see". Our destination was located within these buildings, the historical Speicherstadt. Those of you who are more familiar with Hamburg might already know where we were going, otherwise you have to wait for the next post. It's worth it, I promise.

The Speicherstadt has gone through quite some very careful redevelopment and has become a very interesting quarter. I had to laugh about the sayings on the trash bins.

Left: Do you have a bag of shit? - Right: Your trash has potential with me

After we had spent almost eight hours at our destination in the Speicherstadt, we returned to Elbphilharmonie. We got tickets for the very special escalator to the upper floors (the escalator is free, but you do need a ticket). Why is this escalator (called "Rolltreppe" in German, rolling stair) special? Well, it is the longest curved escalator in Europe. It is 82 meters long (about 270 ft) and takes you up to the Plaza on a unique, slightly curved path. The escalator is also called the "Tube".

And here we are, riding the "gewölbte Rolltreppe".

Going up to the foyer of the concert hall and the Plaza.

The Plaza is the viewing platform that offers panoramic views of Hamburg, the port and the Elbe River. If you're on the platform, you're actually on top of the warehouse brick building I mentioned above and at the base of the "hoisted sail".

The view of the port

and some part of the Speicherstadt

As you can see that the weather was rather poor - quite typical for Hamburg which is a bit like Seattle; it rains a lot. We were lucky that it was only grey, but didn't rain.

It was getting dark quickly.

Of course there is a shop on this level and of course we had to go in there. I couldn't resist buying the following item - Nivea is made by Beiersdorf and the headquarter of Beiersdorf is in Hamburg. Of course I had to buy this! (three "of course" in one short paragraph!)

A last view at Elbphilharmonie at dark. If you are interested in (classical) music and acoustics, this video about Elbphilharmonie is very interesting.

Another view along Kehrwiederfleet to the Speicherstadt - so pretty at night!

Then we crossed Zollkanal via this pedestrian bridge to Deichstraße ("dike street").

Deichstraße is the oldest remaining street in the old center of Hamburg, dating back to the 14th century - it was first mentioned in 1304. Deichstraße contains some of the oldest buildings in the city. You can find many bars, pubs and restaurants here. We went to Fisch & Co., a small place where each of us got a Fischbrötchen (roll with baked fish) to go - ah, such good memories of my childhood! I have always loved Fischbrötchen which you could buy only at the farmers market where I grew up.

And here I end this post with a joyous Moin Moin! (an all-day greeting in Northern Germany)