Miniature Trains and Gigantic Cargo Ships

Hamburg, Germany -- Rest Day

Meg was out early this morning following up on the tip from Thomas and Julie that Die Kleinen Konditorei is positively the best bakery in town. And, in particular, we had to get the Franzbrotchen, cinnamon rolls. I can personally confirm they are excellent as are the raisin rolls and chocolate croissants. On the other hand, the coffee I got from the next door bread shop easily takes the trophy for the worst coffee of the entire trip. I'm sure the woman took me literally when I asked for a Kaffee “Gross.”  

Our first stop in Hamburg, right down by the Elbe River, was the truly amazing Modelleisenbahn Wunderland -- miniature train museum. It is simply the largest, most incredibly detailed model railroad display on the planet. Although, describing it solely as a model railroad is a huge understatement as it includes towns, cities, airports, harbours, and mountain landscapes. We totally loved it.

The exhibit covers various countries, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway..., and even the American Southwest (Las Vegas, Grand Canyon…). Periodically, the lighting would dim and change from day to twilight as the lights of the cars, trains, streets and buildings flickered on. The trains, of course, were constantly moving, pulling in and out of stations while in other sections cars and trucks moved along the roadways and even at the enormous airport complex, planes taxied, took off and landed. Here are a few stats: 13,000 square feet of space, 8 miles of train track, 1000 trains, 4000 buildings, 9000 vehicles, 220,000 figures, 250,000 trees, and 340,000 lights. Amazing.

Next on the agenda was the Havenrundfahrt (harbour tour). We cut it a little close and ended up having to sprint to get to the correct dock. Although we arrived at the replica steamboat at 12:03, we had somehow already missed the 12:00 departure -- the only one with an English tour.

In any event, we hopped onto the boat with its giant paddle wheel. The guy with the microphone clearly must have been a wealth of knowledge as he hardly took a breath from the minute we shoved off until we returned more than an hour later.  Nevertheless, it was fun to see the city from the river. The Hamburg port is the third largest container facility in Europe, which is impressive considering it is located 80 miles from the open sea. The huge cranes were busy loading and unloading a half dozen gigantic cargo ships.

For the rest of the afternoon, the Hoornaert’s were definitely not at their best. Leaving the boat tour, we were hot and lethargic and it took a while to settle on a place for lunch (Captain's Dinner). Surprisingly, some of the hardest times are our days off when we have less structure and no clear goal. There’s nothing worse than bored and irritable kids, especially when combined with tired and irritable adults.

We tried to Geocache after lunch, but tragically our phone reception was poor and the German hints were beyond us anyway. Finally, we walked to a nearby park, got ice cream. and played a frustrating game of minigolf with Dex and Kylie (teammates) squabbling through it all. At one point, we all just burst out laughing because we were so pathetically miserable. (Despite the squabbling, Dex and Kylie still, incredibly, managed to beat us, 59 - 62.)

For the evening meal, we decided to regroup, stop at a grocery store, and take advantage of the hostel kitchen to make eggs and toaster waffles. Enough resting; tomorrow, we're back on the bikes.