Technik Museum Spyer, Germany

We pretty much found Mecca for Grant today.

The Technik Museum Speyer (located in Speyer, German, located about a half hour south of Mannheim, is one of two Technik Museums in southern German that feature all things transportation, and then some.

 We went into the museum and we were greeted by...Nascar?  A Skoal Bandit?  What is going on here!?

 

But first things first.  We NEED to check out the retired Lufthansa 747.  Stat.  Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. 

It's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll. 

Once inside the Lufthansa 747, some of it is cordoned off behind glass with all of the original seating and mannequins posing as flight attendants and passengers.

What the... is this for real?  Only in Germany can your son get a HUGE kick out of the fact that there's a male mannequin sitting on the toilet doing a number two.  While reading a newspaper.

Grant feels more at home in first class than back by the guy taking a dump in coach.

Natalie and Todd went out on the wing of the 747 - very brave!

 I don't know what kind of face Grant is making here (cause it kind of looks like he's crying, but I know he wasn't), but here we are visiting the neighbor to the 747, the Lufthansa Vickers Viscount!

The first thing Grant said when we walked onto this plane was that it smelled like a barn.  Nice.

MOM!  Remember these, but Delta style!?  I love that they kept them here in the retired aircraft.  I used to LOVE it when my mom brought home these flight schedule books from her job at Delta Air Lines.

Afterward, we were pretty cold, so we decided to go inside of the second hangar to check out some more cool stuff.  THIS Aston Martin is ****VERY BRITISH.***

 Our next stop brought us to a Russian version of the Space Shuttle.  I always knew the space shuttle was small, since it fits on the back of a 747 and I know how big those are.  But seeing it in the hanger made it seem bigger!  This is the space shuttle Buran, which the musuem website says, "The BURAN prototype OK-GLI shown in the museum was built in 1984 and was used for testing gliding flight and landing after reentry into the atmosphere."

 

The cockpit of an actual space shuttle! It blows my mind that people are smart enough to know what ALL of those little buttons do!

The cargo bay was open for us to see what it looked like inside.  Even though the space shuttle looked pretty huge in this hangar, compared to the vastness of space, we know how small it really is.

Actual moon rock!  It's 3.34 billion years old.  That's all.

Next we went upstairs to see the bicycle and motorcycle display, as well as model railroad exhibit.  This picture above is funny because not long before this picture was taken, I had an oil change at a VW dealership in Weiden, Germany.  Prior to arriving, I had stopped at the PX for some Makers Mark (I think it's well established how much I love Makers Mark).  The guy at the VW dealership went into my Jetta glove compartment to see if I had certain paperwork he was looking for and when he glanced at the floor and saw my bottles of Makers Mark, he said, "Oh, did you bring your own oil?"  (Which is something Germans sometimes do).  Nope, sir.  That's just Makers Mark bourbon!  That story was funny in and of itself.  Until we saw this picture and realized that oil bottles sometimes look EXACTLY like bourbon bottles!

 

We put  €1 in and turned on the train.  This was legitimately the most bizarre train track I've ever seen.  First... let's have the train drive beneath a German Chocolate Cake, or to use the more local term, a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte.  Sure.  That makes sense.

 

There were many weird American character in this model railroad.  I know you're thinking, hey that's cool.  It's Sesame Street.  But wait!  What does that say?  Ernie ist dooof?  What does that mean?  Well, translated, that means, "Ernie sucks!"  What?  Really?  Really Technik Museum Speyer?  Meanwhile, please don't miss the prince and the princess under the central bridge.  And of course, to our left, Alf.  On a couch.  With a sash that says, "No Problem."  Sitting next a cat.  Which if you recall, he likes to eat.  This is all very disturbing.

The Russian space shuttle in full scale. Thank goodness for some normalcy.

SKYLAB!  Probably only Cory Swales will get this joke.... It is literally the only reason I took this picture!

Back in the summer of 1997, when I was interning at WFLA in my hometown of Tampa, Florida, one of my good friends from Auburn, Beth Linteris (at the time, she's married now!) came down to Cape Canaveral to watch her uncle Greg Linteris on his second space mission as a payload specialist on the Space Shuttle Columbia (which we know in 2003 disintegrated upon reentry, killing 7 astronauts). I was fortunate to sit with her in the family section at the Cape, which is the closest any human can get to the actual launch. I remember you can actually FEEL the launch.  You can see the ripples over the lake from the sound waves...and then you can feel them!  It was incredible.  STS-94 holds a special place in my heart. It was neat to be in Germany and see a little memento from that!

The next stop was the Russian Antonov 22.  It's the worlds largest turboprop, and was used as military transport for Russia.  Above is the interior of the aircraft.  Not super exciting because again, it was used as military transport.  But it's still pretty impressive that props can fly this plane!

 This shows the scale of this plane.  Todd and the kids are beneath the far right prop.  It's an impressive aircraft!

 On our way to our last stop, which was a couple of aircraft near the front of the first hangar, we saw this.  A piece of the Berlin Wall!  How interesting that we found it in the Rhineland Palatinate, which is pretty darn far from Berlin!  I appreciate that all of Germany shares this history.

 Heading over to the other aircraft, we had one last pass under of the Lufthansa Boeing 747!

 

Hi Nat!  That's a Boeing 747 above your head!

  

Two more planes to explore?  Yes please!

 

Here's Natalie in the first aircraft (which in the picture above this one, is the one with the red stripe down the middle. It's an Antonov AN-26) Once again, the Germans (or the Russians?) have stumped me with their strange dioramas.  In this picture, we have a mannequin to the left reading some literature about Lenin and Stalin, and on the right we have a man taking a nap with some strange deer antlers and a fallen picture of a man above him! 

 

Meanwhile, this aircraft also had a car in the back of it!

 

Ok, hopefully the Air Inter is a little less confusing. 

 

But first, let us appreciate the pigeon and all of the bird poop on the wing of the Air Inter in front of the Technik Museum Speyer.

Air Inter was okay but you could really only go in about this far and you couldn't walk around the airplane.

But they had the entire plane still intact and you could see it from the front of the cabin.

 

Last but not least, we have a little bit of Nazi history.  The airplane on top is a model of one that the Red Baron flew.  And of course, we have Nazi unforms on display which Grant is checking out.

If you have children, or even if you don't... this is an incredible museum.  I'm really looking forward to visiting the other Technik Museum in Sinsheim soon!

Heidelberg, Germany

For Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend we decided to take a short trip (three nights) to Heidelberg.  The drive is normally about 2.5 hours.  HOWEVER.  A snowstorm hit on our way there and we almost didn't make it.  No kidding.  There was a big wreck that completely shut down the A9, so our beloved Google Maps sent us on a detour... onto unplowed roads.  Which was great because hey... that was better than the alternative.  But trying to drive unplowed roads in a VW Jetta?  Not super smart. Just past the town of Plech (this town name always makes me laugh), we were about 1 mile away from emerging back on the A9 on the other side of the wreck, when there was this big, unplowed hill that was nearly impossible to get up.  We tried. And we slid.  And Todd cursed a bit and yelled at me.  And we backed up and tried again.  Nope.  So we went WAY back down the hill and tried one more time.  We were moving, albeit very, very slowly.  I mean, maybe we were going 2 mph.  Todd briefly entertained the idea of going back down and trying again and I told him not to... because forward progress is forward progress!  And guess what?  We made it!  I didn't get any pictures of this, but you'll have to take my word for it.  The tires were spinning.

So a drive that normally takes about 2.5 hours took closer to 4 hours.

But this was literally our view from our AirBnB apartment.  WHAT!?  The Old Bridge and Philosopher's Way!

 

The mansions on the other side of the Neckar River are insane.  SO. SO. German.  And I'm guessing pretty old.

 

The next morning, after our terrible drive, we went out for a walking tour of Heidelberg.  Todd had been here years ago in college, but it had obviously been a really long time.  First stop, the nearby Old Bridge and the gate to the city.

The gate to the city, but actually facing away from the city at this angle.

Although there has been a monkey statue on the Old Bridge since as far back as the 15th century, this monkey was put here in 1979.  He holds a mirror, and if you rub his fingers, it will ensure a return to Heidelberg.  If you rub the mirror, it will bring you fortune.  If you rub the little mice next to him (which is behind Natalie in the above picture), it will bring you fertility.  I let the kids rub the mice, and I stayed away from them!

Flood heights of the Neckar River!  That's some serious flooding!

If you walk across the Old Bridge and look back toward the city, you will see the massive Schloss Heidelberg up on the hill.  It almost looks fake, as if they are standing in front of a painting!
 

Walking around Heidelberg, we found the Hotel Zum Ritter.  It survived the War of Succession... and was built in 1592!  It's so pretty!  

It's kind of hard to find "student prison" on Google Maps when all of your Google Map locations are in German.  But we finally found it!  What a fun place!  Between 1778 to 1914, this building was used as a student prison for the University of Heidelberg.  It wasn't for serious offenses.  It was more for things like public drunkenness or disturbing the peace.  You could go to class, but you had to come back immediately after class.  Naturally, students covered the walls in graffiti. 

I'm not sure what they used to do all of this!  Did they allow paint and markers in the prison!?!  This isn't exactly Alcatraz!

Some of the paintings and graffiti were pretty detailed!

Naturally, my husband writes THIS and then makes the kids sign it.  "Bailey family was here.  Where do we drop off our kids?  Grant Natalie."

 Lecture hall at the University of Heidelberg.  Can you imagine attending class in a room this cool!?

 Each of us took turns lecturing to the masses.  Here is Natalie, giving us a lesson in how to care for a Baby Alive.

We continued our walk through Heidelberg and came upon the Freidrich Ebert Platz.  Looks like a place the kids could chase pigeons!

This was one of the best donut places I've ever been to.  And apparently it's a chain!  I like it tasty!

Check out that mug.  And that donut!

Everywhere we go in Germany, we find doors that are of unusual sizes.  So if they are shorter than Todd, but taller than me, then we call the Mommy doors.  If they are shorter than Mommy, and taller than Nat, then they are Natalie doors.  And if they are shorter than Nat, but taller than Grant, they are Grantie doors.  I think this was a Mommy door! 

This is a Mommy door also, but solely because it looks like a barrel of bourbon.

Hey look at that!  The Pats-Chiefs game was being shown in Heidelberg!  (Too bad we couldn't stay up that late!)

Unsure of what we were ordering for dinner, I got some handkäse.  This was the grossest thing I have ever eaten in my life!  It looked nothing like cheese.  So much so, that I wasn't even sure what it was when it arrived at the table.  (I'm thinking, "Did I order this!?")  But I'm generally good with most cheeses, so I tried it.  Oh. My. Goodness.  It looks like potatoes but had the consistency of gelatin, and tasted like smokey death.  (I gotta give props to Todd for the "it tastes like smokey death" cause that part was all him!)  To quote Wikipedia, "It is a small, translucent, yellow cheese with a pungent aroma that many people find unpleasant. It is sometimes square, but more often round in shape."  Ok, I'm not the most adventurous eater, but I do like to try new things and I can only think of three things in this world that I absolutely hate, food wise (For the record, the other three are cilantro, shrimp and limes, so ceviche is completely out of the question) but I'll generally try anything.  Let's now make that FOUR foods that I simply will not eat!  Somewhere in the back of this restaurant, I'm SURE the wait staff was laughing at our misfortune!

 

The next morning, we ventured up the funicular to Schloss Heidelberg.  It's a pretty steep ride up, with the second stop being at the top of the mountain, or the Königstuhl above the Schloss.

The first train to the mid point (or the Schloss Heidelberg) is in a very modern funicular.  From the Schloss up to the top of the Königstuhl, you get to take a more old-timey funicular.

The view at the top is amazing though and thankfully the clouds weren't too thick and we could see most of Heidelberg!

Kiddos at the top of  the Königstuhl.  There was obviously more snow up there than down at ground level.

 

What?  You mean I have to go down THAT!?  Said the girl who is terrified of heights.

The next stop was the Schloss Heidelberg.  This is the view from the top, over historic Heidelberg.

Most of Schloss Heidelberg is in ruins, but there are some inside sections that can still be visited.  As with many historic sites in Europe, they don't always know the exact construction dates, so they rely on historic records to provide information about the age of the structure.  In this case, Schloss Heidelberg (or Heidelberg Palace) was first mentioned in 1225.  It's been built, destroyed by various things such as fire, lightning and wars, and rebuilt many times.

 This gate is known as Elizabeth's Gate.  This was built for Frederick V's bride from England, Elizabeth Stuart, who was the granddaughter of Mary, Queen of Scots.

We stopped in for a visit at the German Pharmacy Museum, which was pretty cool.  They even had self-run projects for children, and Natalie got to make some tea.  Making tea wasn't really Grant's cup of tea, as he didn't want to partake.  (See what I did there!?)

The Heidelberg Tun is a massive wine barrel - you can see Todd and the kids up at the top, and other visitors at the bottom.  It holds nearly 58,000 galllons of wine!   Unfortunately it rarely holds wine.  However, there's plenty of bottles of German wine for sale just outside of this room!

The Castle Powder Turret was partially destroyed by an explosion.  So interesting that they have left it just as it was.

Todd by the remnants of the Heidelberg Palace, way up on high.

Next up it was time for a late lunch. But wait... a sauerkraut-orgie!?  No thanks!

During this same lunch, we let Natalie order a margarita.  JUST KIDDING.  It's sorbet in a margarita-looking glass.

This was in the lobby of our apartment building HA HA HA!  I think we all know what the rest of the world felt about him!

Not long after our late lunch, the snow ended and the clouds parted and we were able to hike up Philosopher's Way!  The first part of the walk is incredibly steep, and you can see how Natalie struggled (with Mommy and Grant up ahead because Grant was full speed ahead!)

The views along the way are stunning.  Schloss Heidelberg is pictured above, which is where we had been earlier in the day.

Look how happy we are that we completed the toughest part of the hike up!  Raise your hand if you are worn out!

 The rest of the hike isn't as steep and it's mostly in the trees.  We wanted to go to the top, but the way is not lit with any lights, so since we knew the sun would be setting soon, we had to cut our hike short.  I definitely would love to come back and do this in the summer!

Back down at the Neckar River with Heidelberg and the sunset behind us.

Looking east from the same location, the river is held back by the barrage Heidelberg, which controls the flow of the river (there's a lock here as well, not seen in this photo).  You can tell things were quite a bit more calm on the east side of the barrage!

Next stop, the Technik Museum in Speyer, Germany!