Channeling my inner child in Hamburg

Despite a long journey the day before, I was up bright and early on the first day of my holiday. Up and out of the Hotel by 8am, in fact. And this is a perfect example of why traveling alone has it's advantages; not only would waking up so early on the first day be the last thing a lot of people would want to do, I was leaving my hotel, full of excitement, at the equivalent of 7am UK time to spend the morning visiting the worlds largest model railway layout, 'Miniatur Wunderland'.

Unknowingly, I had booked my stay in Hamburg right in the middle of the local School Holidays, a fact I only discovered when i tried to book tickets to visit the 'Wundeland'. Although it had extended opening hours (until midnight!) all week, it already looked exceptionally busy. This is the main reason I was up so early. I booked an advance ticket for entry between 8 and 9 am, as well as a 'behind the scenes' tour.

The layout did not disappoint, and all i can say is that it instantly channeled my inner child and I was like a kid in a toy shop for a few hours. The layout spans several separated parts of the world, from the USA to Scandinavia and most of Europe, the most famous section being a huge model of an entire airport, featuring model planes taking off and landing on a custom built runway.

Anyway, this post is all about the photos, so for those of you with an interest in model railways, here you go... for the rest of you, well, the next post has a more 'general interest' appeal.

(How can you not love all the little trains though?! scroll to the bottom for a video of the Airport)