Day 6-Airplanes!!

Hey Mom!!  I want to go there!!!

Today we took a break from the historical PLACES and focused on historical THINGS!!  We went to the Technical Museum in Speyer.  There was LOTS of cars, lots of trains, lots of motorcycles, lots of boats, and a few various generators (steam, turbine, even ones with leather drive belts), a carousel, an organ, etc.  But, of course, it was the planes we came for (by we, I of course mean Bill).  Theresa ALMOST brought a book, but last moment must have forgotten.

We started with the IMAX on trips to the moon.  It was sort of a jumble between stock footage and reenactments by Germans in German.  The whole thing was in German, but hey, it was the visual we were after, so, we just watched and picked up a word or two, and made up stories to fill in the blanks. 

An-22 (Soviet cargo plane) with counter-rotating props.

They had an Antonov 22, a huge cargo plane from the Soviet era.  If you care, it had 4 engines with 8 props, and we got to climb around in it.

Cargo Soviet style!!

They had a Dessault Mercure, the French attempt at a jet airplane in the 60s, but only had a range of under 1300 miles.  (Great for France and much of Europe, but not much good beyond that.)

747 and Vickers Viscount (foreground)

But the grand display was a Lufthansa 747-200.  They had some of it stripped away, so you could see the structure and the enormity of it, but other places they had together, so you could see what it would have looked like in its heyday.  Of course, we BOTH enjoyed that…although not in equal proportions.  It ended with an option to slide down a tube to the bottom.  It was a 10 second ride or a 90 second descension on the stairs.  Guess who did which?

Inside of a 747.

Bill's idea of a cool shot!

Soviet "Buran".with Soyuz capsule in foreground.

They had the “Buran”, the Soviet’s intent for a space shuttle.  They explain its amazing similarity to the NASA Orbiter (Space Shuttle) as “the same optimized solution to the same problem”.  Sure.  Anyway, there were several built, but the first handful were only for testing, and not “space-worthy”.  They built two for space, one with crew and one entirely remote controlled and with no people.  They only ever got one into space, and then the Soviet Union collapsed, so there was no funding.  In a bit of bitter irony, the one that actually flew sat in a hangar in the former USSR, and the hangar collapsed, destroying it.  This is the other one.  How it get here…I didn’t quite understand.  Anyway, it was cool to see.

The cargo bay of the Buran.

German U-9 Unterwasservessel (U-Boat).

There was also a U-boat, so of course we had to go see that…especially since someone we know is a submariner for the US Navy!  Roomy this boat was not!!  Theresa bumped her head more than once, and she is NOT that tall!

The engine room of the U-Boat.

Look Mom!  I'm an ENGINEER!!!  :-)

The premiere commercial plane of the '30s, a Junkers Ju-52!

We took a break for lunch.  We didn’t realize how good the soup is here!!  Also, since beer was €3, as was soda and bottled water, and even “tap water” was €2.60, we stuck with the beer.

We finished the museum about 5PM, and as it was getting dark, we skipped the musical instrument museum that was included, and just headed for home.

OK, we saw one church today.  (And the picture is straight, the view isn't!)

We wrapped up the night with a can of ravioli and a bottle of local red wine; simple but with some class!