Miniatur Wunderland

[bill937ca]

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE2ePRJswB0&NR=1

[KenS]

The second video, taken from a car-mounted camera, has the best view of the detail that went into these scenes.

[grumbeast]

I'm hoping to visit in December when I'm in Koln, my wife has promised me a day off so I can take the train to Hamburg and visit this, I'm sooo excited!

 

Graham

[Darklighter]

 

"Discover the magic of the world’s largest model railway exhibit through the first ever mini-Street View. See tiny recreations of sites in Hamburg, Bavaria, Scandinavia, America and more, now available in Google Maps. Start exploring at g.co/MiniaturWunderland."

 

http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/treks/miniatur-wunderland/

 

:love10:

[cteno4]

Bummer I was expecting a street view all the way thru from that little Google car! Fun that Google went and did that.

 

Jeff

[Darklighter]

A new section has been opened: Italy.

[dabsan]

A new section has been opened: Italy.

That is incredible!

[katoftw]

Wow the get creative with their scenes.  The old lady in the apron with the rolling pin chasing the naked guy.  The Millenium Falcon at the airport.  A DJ Bobo open air concert.

[Yavianice]

Last year, Google mapped Miniatur Wunderland in streetview. Here is a behind the scenes video of how they did it (in a robotic voice, but at least it is in English).

 

[gavino200]

Totally amazing. I'm planning on visiting in March. I can't wait. 

[kami_illy]

I was there last weekend...  aaaaaaand its amazing. And a huge input of information. You should plan a whole day there (at least 6-7 hours). 

So you can take longer breaks for resting your eyes and mind. There is such an overwhelming amount of details and small little scenes to discover. I needed that breaks to freshen up and "scale back" my brain. 

It is totally worth to go. And aside from the modeling skills, there automation is amazing and the depiction of social-cultural life in a condensed (maybe a bit abstract) but still understandable form. 

 

Thumbs up. 

 

Now we just need to drop the idea of them making a Japan part. Their skills combined with the possibilities of Japan (railways, landscape, cities, Godzilla, strange crazy Japanese things...)...!

[gavino200]

I'll have to work a bit to convince my wife of 6-7 hours. But I'll start the negotiations there. Maybe we'll end at 4-5. 

 

What other places in Hamburg would you recommend? We're spending roughly half our time in Berlin and the rest in Hamburg. We're going to take a few daytrips. Bremerhaven for the Climate House. Potsdam for the palace. Maybe a day in Lübeck. We'd also like to go see some old castle or walled city, but haven't found one yet. We're taking the ICE between Berlin and Hamburg, and hope to take a bunch of other trains as well.

 

Please share any ideas related to Northern Germany. I like all kinds of things. Trains related, non-train related, culture, art, history, food, factory tours, nature stuff, odd bizarre things. Any ideas welcome.

 

Thanks.

[velotrain]

4 hours ago, gavino200 said:

I'll have to work a bit to convince my wife of 6-7 hours.

 

Gosh - is this your honeymoon?

 

I'm amazed you can convince her to do anything train related ;-)

[gavino200]

5 hours ago, velotrain said:

 

Gosh - is this your honeymoon?

 

I'm amazed you can convince her to do anything train related ;-)

 

Well, I've indoctrinated my 9 year old son. He loves everything train related. That gives me some leverage :)

[Kiha66]

I haven't been there (yet!), but there's the museum ship Cap San Diego in Hamburg.  It is regarded as one of the most beautiful cargo liners built, which I plan to visit some day.  You can even book a passenger cabin as a hotel room!  Regardless of where you go, be sure to share some pictures! 

[kvp]

15 hours ago, gavino200 said:

What other places in Hamburg would you recommend?

If you like model railways, then there is a nice gauge 1 club layout in the attic of the Hamburg museum. It has existed before ww2 and some of the models are from that time. Out of the two stations modelled one was destroyed in the war, the other is shown its ep2/3/4 look. The layout is operated by club members a few times a week and the older or more interesting models are displayed along the walls. The museum has lots of local exhibits too, including dioramas of the city in various ages and lots of nice ship and some tram models.

 

The Maritime museum has more ship models (including a minifigure sized Lego model of the Queen Mary 2) and lots of interesting artifacts related to ships.

 

Then there is a very small museum in the Speicherstadt about the local coffe processing industry, just next door to the MiWuLa and another one about the history of the area, that also serves as a tourist info point.

 

I would also suggest riding the Hochbahn just for fun, especially if one of the older sets are still running. (some were still in service when i visited a few years ago) Also there are two museum ships at the Landungsbrucke station/pier: the Rickmer Rickmers (a windjammer) and the Cap San Diego. If you are there and have a public transport pass, then taking one of the water bus routes is a good way to see the port from a ship (the one going to Finkenwerder is good for sightseeing along the river).

[railsquid]

18 hours ago, gavino200 said:

I'll have to work a bit to convince my wife of 6-7 hours. But I'll start the negotiations there. Maybe we'll end at 4-5. 

 

What other places in Hamburg would you recommend? We're spending roughly half our time in Berlin and the rest in Hamburg. We're going to take a few daytrips. Bremerhaven for the Climate House. Potsdam for the palace. Maybe a day in Lübeck. We'd also like to go see some old castle or walled city, but haven't found one yet.

Lübeck has some bits of wall left.

 

Quote

Please share any ideas related to Northern Germany. I like all kinds of things. Trains related, non-train related, culture, art, history, food, factory tours, nature stuff, odd bizarre things. Any ideas welcome.

And if you're in Lübeck you can take the bus and visit Germany's only Banana Museum http://www.bananenmuseum.de/ (but be warned, it's in somebodys house and only open for few hours at weekends).

[Suica]

18 hours ago, gavino200 said:

What other places in Hamburg would you recommend? We're spending roughly half our time in Berlin and the rest in Hamburg.

For Hamburg I'd recommend a harbour boat tour and a sightseeing trip with one of the open-top doubledecker buses. I'm usually not that much into these things but the ones in Hamburg are really good! I also absolutely recommend riding the Hochbahn.

You could go for a little trip to the baltic sea and take a train from Hamburg to Kiel. From Kiel you could take a ferry to Laboe. There's the Laboe Naval Memorial. The memorial has a tall tower from which you can get a nice view towards the baltic sea. There's also an old submarine to visit.

[gavino200]

9 hours ago, railsquid said:

 

And if you're in Lübeck you can take the bus and visit Germany's only Banana Museum http://www.bananenmuseum.de/ (but be warned, it's in somebodys house and only open for few hours at weekends).

 

 

Thanks. That looks like fun. I'll check it out if I make it to Lübeck.

[gavino200]

9 hours ago, Suica said:

For Hamburg I'd recommend a harbour boat tour and a sightseeing trip with one of the open-top doubledecker buses. I'm usually not that much into these things but the ones in Hamburg are really good! I also absolutely recommend riding the Hochbahn.

You could go for a little trip to the baltic sea and take a train from Hamburg to Kiel. From Kiel you could take a ferry to Laboe. There's the Laboe Naval Memorial. The memorial has a tall tower from which you can get a nice view towards the baltic sea. There's also an old submarine to visit.

 

Thanks. Laboe and Kiel look interesting. 

 

I don't usually do open top bus tours. But I'll take your word and try it. The Harbour tour and Hochbahn are on the list for sure.

[gavino200]

12 hours ago, kvp said:

If you like model railways, then there is a nice gauge 1 club layout in the attic of the Hamburg museum. It has existed before ww2 and some of the models are from that time. Out of the two stations modelled one was destroyed in the war, the other is shown its ep2/3/4 look. The layout is operated by club members a few times a week and the older or more interesting models are displayed along the walls. The museum has lots of local exhibits too, including dioramas of the city in various ages and lots of nice ship and some tram models.

 

The Maritime museum has more ship models (including a minifigure sized Lego model of the Queen Mary 2) and lots of interesting artifacts related to ships.

 

Then there is a very small museum in the Speicherstadt about the local coffe processing industry, just next door to the MiWuLa and another one about the history of the area, that also serves as a tourist info point.

 

I would also suggest riding the Hochbahn just for fun, especially if one of the older sets are still running. (some were still in service when i visited a few years ago) Also there are two museum ships at the Landungsbrucke station/pier: the Rickmer Rickmers (a windjammer) and the Cap San Diego. If you are there and have a public transport pass, then taking one of the water bus routes is a good way to see the port from a ship (the one going to Finkenwerder is good for sightseeing along the river).

 

If I like model railways? Really? 

 

Thanks. Those are some great ideas :)

[gavino200]

16 hours ago, Kiha66 said:

I haven't been there (yet!), but there's the museum ship Cap San Diego in Hamburg.  It is regarded as one of the most beautiful cargo liners built, which I plan to visit some day.  You can even book a passenger cabin as a hotel room!  Regardless of where you go, be sure to share some pictures! 

 

That looks fun. Staying in a ship's cabin would be cool. Too bad we've already booked an Airbnb.

[Martijn Meerts]

So, what do you do if you run out of space to expand your layout? Obviously, you rent the building on the other side of the canal, and build a bridge between the 2 buildings ...

 

 

[chadbag]

The Brexit comment was funny.

 

[JR 500系]

That's amazing! I would seriously love to see how the bridge would look like! It looks pretty far, like maybe 50-70m or so? Structurally, it will be challenging, and also it has to be weather proof... There is also a need to access it shall there be any derailments or faults encountered on the bridge itself... But of course, seeing all the brilliant and excellent stuff that Miniatur Wunderland had constructed, this would be a walk in the park for them!  🙂