Technik Museum Speyer

Last weekend, we ventured off to Speyer to visit the Technik Museum and we had a blast! Since we weren't sure of how far the distance between the train station and the museum would be, we opted to lease a Stadtmobil for the afternoon.

We got there just in time for lunch so we decided to eat at the restaurant located inside of the museum. The restaurant had the standard fare for German cuisine - several types of schnitzels to choose from (prepared in different ways, of course) or würsts with french fries. The children were smart and opted for the pasta. Alan and I had the usual schnitzel...go with what you know, right? We should be able to write a schnitzel review for all of Southern Germany by the time we move back to the States.

After lunch, we went into the auto and train section. The children enjoyed climbing into some of the exhibits. The hands-on aspect of the displays was really what sets this museum apart. Here is a photo of Jocelyn pretending to be a train engineer.

After the kids got their fill of cars and trains, we went into the adjacent building to see the space exhibits. Most of the equipment on display were originally from Russia, like the Buran space shuttle in this picture.

Gabriel was fascinated by all the space suits and the models of the various space stations. Jocelyn was more interested in (and repulsed by) the exhibits that showed the freeze-dried astronaut food.

Afterwards, we went outside to look at the airplane exhibits. For these, you had to climb up several flights of stairs - to play up to that whole flight experience I suppose. We went up to the old Lufthansa plane that on display, which pretty much had everything you would see on any airplane.

We were also able to walk out onto one of the wings (reminded me of that old Twilight Zone episode where William Shatner saw a monster ripping things out of the airplane wing every time he looked out the window). It was completely gated for safety reasons, but it still offered a pretty spectacular view of the surrounding area. If you did not feel like walking down the steps to get back to the ground, you can just go down the slide. And that is exactly what Alan and Gabriel did - a few times. Jocelyn didn't want to try it at first, but couldn't help herself after seeing the boys have so much fun. I didn't do it - I had to watch our stuff and take the photos after all.

There were a couple of other planes that you could climb up to peruse, as well as a ship and a helicopter. There was also a submarine that Jocelyn refused to climb into. The boys went by themselves.

After we looked at all the exhibits, we went into the playground area. The playground was more like a mini amusement park. There was a small roller coaster type contraption, the Titanic ride (you sit in a small boat, which quickly descends down a steep slope and lands in a pool of water), a miniature driving course for junior speed demons and several other rides that the children were too young to try out.

All in all, the entire family had a great time. We went home as the evening started to set in. The children are eager to go to the Technik Museum in Sinsheim, though we will probably put that off until the springtime - when it is warmer.