Day 25: Everything is better at 1:1250

Today was our day to explore Hamburg! We set off from the hotel and walked along the wharf towards our first destination: Miniatur Wunderland. It was only a short walk away, but we were a little dubious. How good could it be?

It was in a lovely part of Hamburg that reminded me of the Melbourne Docklands. On the way along the docks we spotted a place for breakfast. It was a bakery with a diner feel, and they had filter coffee. Praise be. We got some black coffee, and I ordered a bagel while Dylan went for the classic croissant breakfast. The coffee would be classified as 'pretty good', but boy, we're keen to return home to our beloved filter machine.

Fully awake now after two cups, we continued down the promenade through the docklands. There was a tourist map that directed us towards the Miniatur Wunderland. It was along the docks past a few other shops and attractions.

My skepticism about this place only grew when we got to the entrance (there was a little line), and the entry was 15 euros. It had better be awesome.

You know what? It was. It was the best thing ever. If you ever go to Germany, go to Hamburg. Go to the Miniatur Wunderland. You will not be sorry. Dylan took many photos, but basically there were three levels of amazingly detailed, complex, and large representations of Switzerland, Germany, Hamburg, the US and Italy. They are in the process of building Monaco.

Dylan's favourite part was the Hamburg aitport - there were multiple planes that took off and landed on an actual schedule, as well as a sneaky Millenium Falcon.

The Wonderland, as that is what it is, holds the world's largest model train network. The trains run through each model and through the building along a huge line of railways. ALL of it is controlled by a team of people who direct the trains and the rails. There are also light cycles so that night time comes over every 10 minutes or so to give you the LED magic. My favourite part was probably Mt Vesuvius.

(Dylan: I apologise for the huge amount of photos but there was just so much to see)

A model stadium. The singer on stage moved and the screens had a movie playing

Rome

Most of the cars had headlights, some had interior lights, and all the emergency vehicles had lights and sirens

St Marcs Square in Venice

The mountains were massive - two floors in fact!

And with cable cars

A mini festival. So many mini-people, each all painted and detailed.

In a cave between cities they had a 'evil lair'

Disasters and bad luck was a common occurrence in the Minatur Wunderland

People for scale

The airport was modelled off Hamburg Airport

The terminal at night

There were all kinds of planes from all different carriers

There were a lot of hidey holes so that staff could get in a clean or fix any derails (none we saw)

The Control Room. Over 50 computers. Hobbyist's dream.

Forest Fire. The firefighters were pumping water from a nearby river

The stadium in Hamburg. It's lights matched the day/night cycle and would turn on and off

Las Vegas. American was much more condensed, and included the desert.

They had a model studio

An RC model cruise ship departed out to sea behind the landscape.

There was also a small snowy section

Anyway, Miniatur Wunderland - worth the money and the time.

The only problem now, of course, was that no other tourist destination could ever live up to that awesomeness. We had also planned to go to the chocolate museum, but there was limited availability, so we decided to give it a miss. We were hungry by this point, having spent a few hours marveling at tiny versions of things. Dylan had a squizz at the old Google Maps and found a Middle Eastern place nearby that looked good. We've decided that Middle Eastern is quite possibly our favourite cuisine. My heart was crying out for my favourite Sydney breakfast at Shenkin, so we thought this place would be a good destination.

It was. We ended up ordering pides, partly because they looked delicious, and partly because the menu was in German so the rest of it was mostly a mystery. I ordered a pide with vegetables and hummus, and Dylan had one with Turkish pepperoni and cheese. They were an impressive size (almost a mistake), and were absolutely delicious. I would happily eat this pide every day for the rest of my life. We accompanied them with some interesting Turkish drinks flavoured with rhubarb and elderflower. 

Now full as googs, we took a wander through the main malls in the area. Here we stumbled upon another Christmas market. Who would have thought? This was only the first of many that afternoon. I'm talking upwards of five or six separate markets. We ducked into some shops along the way and had a look at the markets. We couldn't possibly fit anything in (yet), so were mostly just browsing the foods. I had a look at some shoes, but restrained myself.

We kept finding more and more markets as we turned each corner. So many. After a little while, Dylan classified himself as now hungry enough for a crepe, so he stopped for a banana nutella fix. By this point it was starting to get dark. We'd spent a couple of hours wandering around. The final set of markets were all in white tents along the river. We got a hot wine and looked out over the water. It was a paltry 6 degrees out (practically Australian heat). Finally, I was also ready for a crepe.

It was beginning to near dinner time, but we were still completely stuffed from our pides and crepes, and decided that dinner wasn't necessary. We went back to the hotel early and settled in for a movie.

Germans love to park anywhere. This guy chose the middle of a roundabout

Only one more full day left! Dylan misses the sun, but we'll be sad to leave. Hamburg has been a wonderful place to end on.

Tchuss!
A+D