3/8/24 Hamburg Maritime Museum

 

    Today it's back into the city and the canals again , this time it's the Maritime Museum - it too is located in the old warehouses beside the canals , and boasts 11 different floors of displays .

    This propeller is out on display outside , given Isla is just over 1.2m tall , that makes the propeller about 4m or more .

   In through the gift shop , we went up the stairs to get our visit underway . On display is this lego version of the Queen Mary 2 . To give you an idea on size , there's a man standing behind it , this model is about 5m long !!

   There are many other models on display , here's one of The Endeavour !

    There are many others on display , some are made of lead and are very small , but highly detailed . 

        There were others on display made from paper !! How they do that is beyond me , but quite clever .

   One section was devoted to maps & charts , this one captured my attention . The east coast of Australia has been omitted - or rather it was thought there wasn't anything of value to be traded there. This map was done in the 1640's and is in the original map atlas . 

    This too was interesting , the copper sheet has the map engraved on it ready for printing . The map on the right is the printed version of it . The tools on the lower right are the etching tools used to create the template . There must have been thousands of these templates for all the maps that were in use !!

    These hanging compasses were interesting , they usually hung in the captains cabin , above his bed , just so he could keep an eye on whoever was in charge of steering the ship while he was resting - making sure they were still on course .

 

    Another level was devoted to the making of boats & ships , with some of the tools used in the process .

    Ship plans as well .

    Another section and we had scale models of the engines of various ships . This one is of the Titanic's motors . To give you an idea of the size , the platform beside the huge motor has a small staircase on the left hand end . These motors would have been about 10-15m tall !

     There were plenty of rifles and swords on display as well .

    After several hours looking through the museum , we couldn't take any more in , so went on our merry way . While wandering up to the city area again , we came across these little hotrods going down the street  - a tour of some sort , would be a bit intimidating driving those amongst the traffic !!

    Another canal view .

    We did it again , in Hamburg on the pride parade day . Dodging most of the mayhem , we found a restaurant and grabbed a table , time for a beer and some pork knuckle !! We ordered and started enjoying our meal as the sky darkened , and threatened . First there was the thunder , we missed the lightning , but it kept getting darker & darker , before letting loose with the rain . We were sitting outside , under a large square umbrella , which came in very handy . We probably should've had indigestion from scoffing our meal so quickly , but we didn't want to waste it - it was delicious . Justin & Isla got some rain blown in , but Lyn and I managed to miss out on it . 

   The downpour ended and we made our way home , dodging puddles and having a good laugh . Seems to have been a theme here in Germany - 2 pride parades and storms to wash it down ???? We had a good day out anyway 🙂

   Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1R_Uoc83yLnO5gozU5mRz90X0X-PnB4s&usp=sharing

2/8/24 Stadtpark

 

    Managed to spot a couple of crocodiles in Hamburg , right outside the apartment - they seem to be waiting for the forklift .

    Today we headed out to Stadtpark , not too far away , there's playgrounds to keep Isla amused , and a nice walk for us as well . There's 366 acres of parkland to wander through , so it's a pretty big park and would generate plenty of work for the gardeners . There's plenty of tree's , gravel paths , grass and a lake to canoe or peddle boat or stand up paddle board in - you can swim in the lake as well , but there is a section roped off if you prefer swimming in that one .

     There are numerous very old trees in the park and natural undergrowth forming a barrier from  the traffic and city noises .

   Found an interesting pink flowering plant while we were out .

    Here's a map f the park to give you an idea of what's there - multiple football grounds , tennis courts , playgrounds , rose garden etc etc .

    Speaking of roses , here's some that were still out flowering , certainly on the tail end of the flowering cycle .

    Here'a a photo of a bee's bum 🤣

   This is the swimming area , with the lake in the background . There's a building in the distance , that's the Planetarium that we didn't get too .

     Still plenty of flowers out though , there was a huge bed with all these yellow daisies in it.

    That was how we spent today , a picnic in the park and a good walk around too . 

  Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1voqrR-Gg8tvnRz4IPeUsb9AUjWaTZ4U&usp=sharing

1/8/24 Elb Tunnel & St Michaelis

 

      What will today hold for us after yesterday , still a bit blown away by it all , anyway here we go again . Walk to the bus , down to the train station and into the city and down to the docks where all the cruise boats leave from . Today we are walking under the river , yes under the river . There's the Elbtunnel , which crosses underneath the Elb River , not sure what's on the other side , but we're going anyway . The tunnel is 12m below the surface , should say 2 tunnels , but one is undergoing renovations at the moment , so there's only one available , and does it get some traffic - both walkers and cyclists . 

 It was constructed in 1907 , finished in 1911and is 426.5m long 

  The entrance to the lift has been tiled and has the information plaque on it .

   There's also the stairs you can walk down - an interesting walk down ! There's also 3 goods lifts that can take 80 people & bikes - probably also maintenance vehicles .

    There's a pathway both sides and a single lane through the middle , where the cyclists go . The tunnel is tiled with shiny tiles and has regular feature tiles showing river animals & fish .

   Here's one of the good's elevators .

    And the stairs from another view point .

   On reaching the other side , we went skywards again and came to a viewing / picnic area , complete with coffee & lunch vans . Views were back to the city over the docks . The tower is the spire of St Michaelis Church . 

   Hamburg is 110 klms from the North Sea , but is Germany's busiest port , the 3rd busiest port in Europe and 15th busiest in the world !! No wonder there's tugboats pushing barges every direction , cruise boats doing river & canal cruises all day & half the night .

    The domed building ove rthe river is where the tunnel starts or finishes .

    A view of the Elbphilharmonie from across the river .

    A mural on a garage door caught our eye .

    We walked back across and found some lunch , before going towards St Michaelis Church . This mural stood out .

    Germany seems to favour spiral staircases on their buildings , as fire escapes presumably , we've seen plenty .

    We also found a brass map of Hamburg , similar to the one we found at Zagreb , a great way of seeing the way the city lays out .

    After paying our entry fee , we headed into the church , the organ certainly was impressive .

    We got to climb some stairs ( 2 storeys ) then get a lift up to the 10th storey , just below the bells in the tower . Views are over to the port area - no shortage of cranes  !!                                        

    We had a suspicious looking guy come up to Justin , who told him to go away , we kept an eye on him for a while till he disappeared somewhere else - definitely a bit dodgy !!

   No other drama's , we headed home , here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1hIAVGxq_yZoDscoHnO4B2kmRB0AJYvE&usp=sharing

 

30/7/24 Minataur Wunderland

    

 

   Back into Hamburg docks again this morning , an earlier start so that we can get in early to Minataur Wunderland . This is an attraction that Justin had been to previously , but wanted to show Isla and us . It's very popular and you need to book a timeslot to arrive in - he chose 8:30am , and was a great decision after we saw the queue to get in at 8:35 , we walked straight in and dropped the backpacks off in the lockers before we started our time here . It's located in an old warehouse beside the canals .

   We walked up the stairs and first up was a repair section where people were busily working on various models from the displays . There were several workstations .

    Next was a long glass cabinet with a selection of model cars that are used in the displays .

    Further in was a model of a stadium with a rock concert happening . The incredible detail in people & equipment is astonishing - there are many different people body types & shapes and all incredible scale . All the seats in the grandstands are pretty much full .

    There's so much to look at here , it's hard to take it all in . Justin wrote out a list for Isla , of things she needed to find while looking at the displays - there were 4 pages of things !!

   The first section we came to was Monaco and the F1 racetrack around the streets , it even had formula 1 cars , safety cars etc all going round the track before the race started .

  Another view of it , now you can see the people looking at it to give you some idea of the size of this .

    Every 15mins it transitions from day to night - wow , all the buildings light up , apartment lights go on & off , flashing lights on Police cars , fire engines & ambulances .

    Just a short trip to Vatican City .

    Cars in tunnels with lights , traffic lights , brake lights etc .

    Further around , we came to the airport - now this was massive - there were terminal buildings , cargo section , refuelling trucks and all the other vehicles that move around an airport . Vehicles even had working blinkers , planes had flashing lights etc . Planes taxied , went to terminals , lined up to takeoff , and indeed took off , also some landed as well - what a fascinating piece of model building !!

    There were sections for Germany ( of course ) , many European countries , USA & South America as well as some penguins in the arctic or antarctic . All the way through , there were buttons you could press to get features working - such as wind turbines , helicopters , abseilers , a UFO , carnival rides etc etc .

    This is the control room , 8 desks & screens & operators looking after it all - there are cameras everywhere to keep an eye on things .

    Here's a carnival on the edge of one display , some of the rides do operate .

   Isla was mesmerised by it all , we were close behind - gobsmacked at the level of detail and the sheer size of this .

    There's even a model of the building we were in .

    After a few hours we went down to the cafeteria for some lunch , before coming back and doing the final section in another warehouse across the canal . We went across an enclosed aerial walkway to the other side , model trains also went across the walkway . There were displays of Rio De Janeiro , here's Copacabana Beach . 

    The modellers do have a sense of humour as well , there are several not necessarily appropriate scenes on display , but you do have to look hard to find them , such as boys running away with bikini tops , and a couple in a flower patch . 

   Some facts about the setup 

It covers 1500 square metres

There's just over 15 kilometres of railway lines , 1,040 trains , more than 10,000 wagons . Longest train is 14.5m long .

 Over 479,000 led lights , 269,000 people figures , 9,250 cars .

Has 360 employees 

Cost 36 million euro's and is still a work in progress .

We ended up spending over 6 hours there , wow what a way to spend a day . Time to head for home .       Here's a map link :-  https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1ToPOkx9QNn9Q_gp6xwQ1Zr7nTOKFD6c&usp=sharing