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 .
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 .
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 .
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
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