So we get to Speyer. It's hot. They give us a choice between walking around town to look at MORE old stuff and cathedrals and squares bla bla bla OR, behind door number TWO, we could strike off on our own to see the Technik Museum Speyer. What would a geeky math guy and his engineer dad do? DUH, y'all.
The staff spoke enough English to sell us tickets. My dad and I went in the door. After about five minutes, I left my 80-year-old dad behind. (He's not old, just 80.) Had no idea what happened to him. TOO MANY SHINY OBJECTS.
In America, we have science and industry museums. Chicago has a great one. They have a really cool big streamlined diesel train from the '50s. You can walk through it. You can see the seats and how it's made of shiny stainless steel. You can marvel at the trucks, couplers and articulations.
In Germany, they have a room dedicated to a diesel fuel pump. They show it to you assembled. They show it to you in cutaway. They show it to you in exploded view. They show you where the fuel goes in, what drives it, and where it connects to the cylinder intake. They show you an early version. They show you what changed to make it a wildly popular fuel pump. They have big photos of the factory machinery that made it, including people who worked there. They have lists of machinery it was installed in.
Is that geeky or WHAT? Then in the next room ...
In the NEXT room, the first thing you see is a steam locomotive WITH THE BOILER COVER OPEN. I DIDN"T EVEN KNOW THE FRONT OF THE LOCOMOTIVE OPENED LIKE THAT! IT WAS SO COOL!!!!
Pardon me for getting excited. BUT IT WAS GREAT!
And they have an Antonov you can climb around in (big as a barn inside! No, wait, you can put four barns inside!) and a collection of way cool Bulldog tractors - including one in its Sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes - and a WWII tracked motorcycle (weirdest abomination you've EVER) and a big ol' collection of fire trucks from all over the world INCLUDING some American ones. Those are just plain old American LaFrances and GMCs and Dodges, but of course they're exotic to Germans!
And there's the Buran - the Soviet copy of the Space Shuttle. Boy, that thing really sucked. I mean, it's only the early design, but it's full of heavy steel and the heat-shield tiles are all beat to snot and I can't imagine the thing lasting more than a couple of flights before it toasts its occupants on descent. Amazing. And right below it has got to be the coolest Benz ever - custom-made for the Shah of Iran. Wow.
OK, there's some just-weird stuff. There's a side building (un air-conditioned) with superhero figurines. There are a bunch of 20th century locomotives that languish in the weeds that I really wanted to see. And the gift shop was crappy (MAN I wanted a coffee mug I could tell stories about!). But I had fun. And I eventually found my dad. He'd headed back to the cruise ship. Fortunately, he understood. I think I'm still in the will. (I do feel really bad. Sorry, Dad!)
Some of the signage is in English, but most is just in Deutsch. But it's technical Deutsch, so half of the words are the same, so c'mon, you can read it! Besides, it's cars and airplanes and boats and stuff. Do you really need subtitles?
If you're a geek, GO THERE. IT'S GREAT. If you're not, make sure you know the way back to the boat... read more