My Dad was in town this weekend and we used that as an opportunity to go visit the Miniatur Wunderland — otherwise known as the “largest model railway in the world” — which happens to be located in the Speicherstadt here in Hamburg.  I have to admit to being more impressed than I thought I would be.  They have recreated a whole miniature universe, with 12,000 meters (yes, that’s over seven miles) of train tracks, 830 trains and 200,000 figurines.  It takes about 40 computers to keep the whole thing running, more than 500,000 work hours to create, and about 10 million Euros to finance.  Really unbelievable.

There are about a million little scenarios depicted in the models and you definitely get the sense that the creators have a sense of humor.  You could probably go there several times and discover something new every visit.

If you get the chance, I would definitely recommend checking it out — even if you don’t think you’d be into it, you might be surprised!  The exhibit is also super kid friendly, with lots to discover at kid’s eye level too.  It tends to get crowded though, so I would recommend booking a reservation online ahead of time (so you can skip waiting in a long line) and/or visit either in the evening (after 5pm) or during the workday, in order to avoid most of the crowds.  Have fun!

Here’s some great pictures below, or you can check out the whole album here.