How to Plan an International Trip: Travel Tales and Tips : Berlin Trip Report Day 4: Day Trip to Hamburg Miniatur Wunderland

DAY 4, April 15, 2019, Monday:

Miniatur Wunderland is a model railway and miniature airport attraction in Hamburg, and the largest of its kind in the world. It had long been on our wish list.

It was a day of fantasy and magic for us; we enjoyed the awesome displays and the meticulous attention to detail!

We shot 353 videos (13 GB) and I've uploaded some 15 files after processing them... no other way to convey the sheer beauty and perfection. Link is given at the end of the post.

WHOLE ALBUM is at:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/y8i8FpikdTghHxBM7

Hamburg Miniatur Wunderland 2019

We considered having Hamburg as our base but logistics and time constraints made it convenient to fly into Berlin and use it as base for Hamburg. Though Hamburg is 300 km from Berlin, it can be reached in 2 hours

Miniatur Wunderland is located alongside the River Elbe in the Speicherstadt area, which is a historical warehouse district in the heart of Hamburg. Rathaus (Town Hall) and Mönckebergstraße (one of the most well-known shopping streets in Europe) are at a linear distance of only 800 m (875 yards) but we missed out on all that as we were so fascinated by the main attraction.

We bought Miniatur Wunderland tickets 11.75 € online

Timings: apr 13 sat, 14 sun: 7.30 -24 but it's recommended to avoid weekends; April 15 onward timing timing becomes 7am-1am. So we opted to visit on Apr 15, though we had to return to Berlin without using the extended timings

TRAIN TICKETS

https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml

Berlin to Hamburg, €19,90 if booked early, 2h trip (later trains 1h 45min); €81 on the day

We booked the 6.38 to 8.34; return Hamburg to Berlin 18.50-20.55.

We stayed right across the train station, so it was an easy commute.

Worked out great.

The closest train/bus main station is the Hauptbahnhof, and the nearest subway (U-Bahn) station is Baumwall. 600 m walk to Miniatur wunderland. We took the bus as it's shorter distance to walk

From Hamburg hbf, took Mönckebergstraße exit, walked to Halt(stop) HBF/Mönckebergstraße , took bus line 6 Auf dem Sande (Speicherstadt) (frequency every 10 min). €1.70 ticket from driver.

9 min (6 stops), 50 m walk to our destination. [ all these seen on google street view earlier]

As said in the ticket, went up the flight of steps, scanned our ticket and got in.

AMAZING EXPERIENCE:

We had 2 concerns at the planning stage... thought it may be tacky and childish. We were also wary of jostling crowds and poorly ventilated interiors. All these were non issues in reality.

There were plenty of kids but we could still enjoy all the displays.

We loved their concept of different lightings.... the whole scene assumed a cloak of mystery when darkness descended, street /house lights twinkled on and activities continued …

trains with lit up carriages showing tiny passengers seated inside, apartments with multifarious activities,

cars, trucks, stopping/whizzing past signals...

then the dawn started painting the horizon, lights went out and the golden glow of the sun illuminated the scene...it was all sheer POETRY IN MOTION!

Knuffingen airport takes the pride of place... it has 250 take-offs and landings per day, with a fleet of 46 aircrafts glide through the air.

Here are some numbers to mull over...

21 Million Euros Building costs

760000 hours Construction Time

42 Planes up in the air

1040 Trains

9250 Cars

4110 Buildings

130000 Trees.

We were right in the midst of all action in so many different regions... Central Germany, Knuffingen airport, Austria's alpine panorama, Hamburg, USA with a sample of its desert terrain and the city that never sleeps Las Vegas, Scandinavia, Switzerland for some more Alpine scenery, Italy for a dose of 'la dolce vita', a gondola trip in Venice...

Knuffingen airport takes the pride of place... it has 250 take-offs and landings per day, with a fleet of 46 aircrafts glide through the air.
Our shirt video is here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xZDSYmmmTDAxpy16A

Knuffingen airport

In addition, an extensive Car system at the airport. Next to a well-equipped Airport Fire Brigade (which comes into action with up to 14 vehicles in case of an emergency landing), there are numerous buses and service vehicles such as catering cars, fresh water and tank trucks, pumping engines, push-back cars, and many more. The Airport is connected with Knuffingen, so vehicles from both sections can share the automatic charging stations.

There is enough info on boards near the displays and the action is unpredictable... not a simple paradigm of one train on same track doing repeats.... it is a complicated algorithm executed perfectly. .. with so many models and variations. We were very impressed and entertained.

A magnet built into the front axle of the car and wires laid in the streets let the cars steer and follow the lane.

vehicles always check the right of way, yield to the highway rule of preferably driving on the right lane, stop at closed railway crossing gates, obey traffic lights, grant the right of way to firefighters in operation, and stop at pedestrian crossings. If stuck in a traffic jam, they might let a car from a side street sneak in, and they also wait patiently behind garbage trucks with frequent stops. However, once in a while, a car gets caught in a radar trap because of speeding and subsequently is stopped by the police.

Buses make scheduled stops and at night, all vehicles turn on the headlights. They are switched off again at dawn, except for the Scandinavian layout. In the German section, about 10% of the cars run with headlights turned on at daytime, too – also controlled at random. (Note: A day/night-cycle is simulated every 15 minutes using computer controlled dimmable fluorescent lamps, located at the ceiling and behind the layout

The height of the display is quite effective... in contrast at MiniEurope in Brussels, though the models are 1:25, since they are on the ground, the impact is less as we are towering over them. Here, the displays are 1:87 but at comfortable height for viewing and make for great viewing convenience and pleasure.

the control software does not follow a fixed sequence of steps, but rather provides each vehicle with a "brain". The system, as it is now, would allow for 65,000 vehicles. However, for computing power reasons, they have a maximum of "only" 1,000 vehicles

Pumpkins ... note the carved pumpkin stall

FIRE ENGINE ACTION:

When smoke starts coming out of the windows of one of Knuffingen’s houses and the first flames are visible, the alarm goes off at the town’s fire station. Even in the middle of the night, the lights inside the station will be switched on and only seconds later, the first fire engines will turn on their headlights, flashing blue lights and headlight flashers.

The fire brigade, consisting of up to five vehicles, will head for the location of the fire. Up to 34 vehicles rush to the site one after another in case of a red alert situation, depending on the size of a fire. If the fire gets out of control, fire engines from the suburbs are called for support

Fire engine rushing to put out fire from a smoking castle

Fleet of fire engines at the Fire house... all these roar into action and rush to the spot of fire when different parts of the town start emitting smoke

Happy cows on a farm

This is a car wash

Ski run and cow procession

Roma, St Peter's

Catch a glimpse of the Pope...

Roma, Trevi fountain

Doge's Palace, Venice, Italia

St Mark's near Doge's Palace

When our legs gave out, we trudged back to the canteen.... the sofas in the display rooms were always occupied by tired families. The lockers for holding bags and coats were very handy too.

Around 6 pm, we reluctantly left. We had planned a walk through the beautiful historic warehouse area, but there was no time.

We just enjoyed the beauty through the bus windows and reached the train station. Boarded our train and reached Berlin at 9 pm.

Slept off drifting in a dreamland with thundering take offs, chugging trains, lovely Alpine scenery and scenic German towns.

WHAT AN AMAZING DAY!