Das Go Technik!

I've tried to avoid turning the blog into "what I did on my holidays", but there is one place we went which deserves special mention.  It is the Speyer Technik Museum in Germany, which is a transport museum.  As such, it's got all sorts of vehicles - motorbikes, cars, aeroplanes, railway engines, boats, submarines and spacecraft.  They've got a Space Shuttle!  OK, it's a Russian one, not an American one, but still pretty good.

Me standing under the Space Shuttle of Damocles

You can have a look inside - it's got a big space for cargo, a fairly standard-looking cockpit, and a very scary amount of wiring.

One of the things I like about this museum is that everything is mixed up in a seemingly completely arbitrary jumble, which makes for more surprises as you wander around.

Mixed transport, including fairground roundabout

Corvette, 3-engined Tractor, helicopter etc...

And, of course, it's in Germany, so you get a slightly different perspective from the one we are used to.  They are very proud of the service record of their Messerschmitt BF109, for example, and happy to point out that Maybach cars  unquestionably exemplify the pinnacle of equipment, luxury and quality in car manufacture.  Who knew?

interesting...

There's a huge space allocated to the Munch Mammoth motorbike and its illustrious, if little-known, forebears, and even evidence that someone once found something interesting to do with a BMW flat twin, along with tons and tons of other good stuff.  For example, venerable racing car maker Auto Union made a sort of Sunbeam Alpine (i.e. a small European Ford Thunderbird copy) in the '60s - quite cute, but with only 55ps? Really?

Auto Union Alpine-thunder-chicken

Outside, there are lots of big things, and the "it's German" difference is the preponderance of Russian stuff like Sukhoi fighter jets and Antonovs.  Oh, and there's a 747 about 30ft up in the air, which you can walk around in.  They ripped the inside out so that you can see the structure, which is good.

 Altogether, great stuff.  If you can't quite make a visit, check out the website:
https://speyer.technik-museum.de/en

Do you know what?  I've got so many pictures, I think I'll do another blog on this topic.  With jokes maybe!