Sojourn in Germany: Landesmuseum für Technik und Arbeit

It was a nice sunny day last Saturday. So nice that the kids wanted to go out of town to do something. We had been staying in Karlsruhe every weekend since our Paris holiday last month because it's either been cold/rainy or cold/snowy. Then it just became a matter of where we wanted to go. Alan suggested that we go the Landesmuseum für Technik und Arbeit in Mannheim, and that's what we did after we booked a trusty Stadtmobil.

We arrived in Mannheim just in time for lunch. We decided to eat before we went to the museum because we weren't sure what kind of food would be served there. Unfortunately, there weren't many restaurants in the near vicinity so we ended up cruising around for a couple of blocks. That's when we saw the sign. We saw a KFC sign on a light post which even had an arrow to point us to the correct direction. Upon seeing this sign, we all had an initial reaction of amusement because we hadn't seen a KFC this entire time that we've been in Europe. Then our amusement turned into a craving as we realized that this sighting coincided with our annual KFC feast. For some odd reason we eat at KFC only once a year, usually in the winter time. I guess our bodies just crave the fat in such a meal to build up our blubber and keep our bodies insulated. In any case, we followed the signs and arrows and had our feast. Once we had our fill of KFC we decided it was time to go to the Landesmuseum.

Honestly, I wasn't really sure what to expect. But as we started to walk around, I became more impressed. The displays in this museum show the technical and industrial innovations that have been made in Southwest Germany. We started on the top floor, which contained a lot of interactive exhibits for kids. Needless to say, Gabriel and Jocelyn thoroughly enjoyed themselves as they learned about pulleys, magnets, air pressure, electrical power generation and pendulums. As we walked down to the lower levels, we saw exhibits that showcased industrial weaving looms, printing presses and an assembly line for automobile manufacturing. We were also able to take a 5 minute train ride - yes, 5 minute train ride. The museum housed an older train that takes the visitors from the inside of the museum to the outskirt of the adjacent park outside, then back inside again. Here are some photos of the kids playing with the exhibits (and of Alan explaining an exhibit to them).