Seafood Buffet
Buds plays an online game called “World of Warships.” He loves this game and all he’s learned from it, plus he has a deep and abiding affection for Patrick O’Brien books.
And since we love him, when he found that Hamburg had a Maritime Museum, there was never a doubt that we would go. (The museum and my mom’s familial history from this part of the country are the two main reasons we worked our way up to Hamburg.)
As you’ve read, it was a hot day in Hamburg, and the museum and the bus we rode in on were all air conditioned, so the whole tribe was in for an adventure.
We had no idea what to expect, and all of us except Buds weren’t expecting much. We were so happily, happily surprised. The museum was fascinating, beautifully presented, cram packed, and awe-inspiring. It was great.
Ten floors filled with exhibits or the gift shop and cafe. We started on floor nine, and all of us, except Buds lasted about four or five floors. Then we headed to the cafe do Buds could take his delightfully sweet time perusing to his content.
The day worked out perfectly. We were in cool museum for the hottest parts of the day, learning and seeing and imagining, then by the time we stopped at the Edeca for a few dinner items and headed up, up, up to our apartment, it began to cool off.
Now, the Museum.
The ninth floor holds the miniatures. And what gazillions of glorious miniatures there are.
Buds taking over from here.
The tiny ship that started the collection.
The Battle of the Nile
Funny wooly smoke on some ships
Dioramas of Lord Nelson’s three major victories: Battle of the Nile, Copenhagen, Trafalgar
All these models and dioramas were just on a single floor.
The maritime museum is just a massive, well organized collection of everything about how people interact with the sea. Here is some of what’s available in those 10 floors.
- The world’s largest collection of miniature ship models.
- A comprehensive picture of transportation and modern logistics.
- Seagoung exploration.
- Deep sea creatures including a collection in jars.
- German ice breakers and how they’re mapping the Antarctic sea floor.
- The development of warships across all ages.
- A massive collection of sea paintings.
- Sailing ship models made out of bone.
- Sailing ship models made out of gold.
- 1 to 100 scale models of war ships from pre-dreadnoughts through WWI and WWII.
- Portraiture of famous Admirals in famous sea explorers.
- Bronze busts of the same.
- Full-size mockups of cabins from different ages of luxury oceanic travel.
- Examples of different wood construction techniques.
- Medals and awards both current and past for all major seafaring nations.
- A 30 foot long Lego Queen Elizabeth.
Here are some pictures from the other 9 floors.
Nelson’s death mask
The Bismark and Tirpitz models. Can you tell them apart? I can now.
Chester Nimitz
A dramatic painting
It was a tremendous feast that was enjoyed by all.
