Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg ()
The dark, dreary days of the German winter are upon us where daylight is a hot commodity that simply cannot meet demand. While there is a desire to lock ourselves away in the sanctuary of our warm and cozy living rooms with an endless supply of Netflix, it is good for both your physical and mental health to venture outside and see other humans. Check out these museums to get out, stay warm and learn something new.
Mercedes-Benz & Porsche Museums - Stuttgart
Car enthusiasts, look no further than the car capital of Europe for all things auto: Stuttgart. The city is home to two massive car museums. The Mercedes-Benz Museum is nine levels with more than 1,500 exhibits. The building has an impressive double helix design that will delight any architecture nerd. It’s a gorgeous building to photograph at night. Collections are sprinkled throughout the 178,00 square foot building that takes you from the earliest days of Mercedes all the way through some of it’s latest and up-and-coming models.
Just a 20-minute drive up north will take you to the Porsche Museum. The museum has been around since 1976 but after Mercedes-Benz opened its stunning museum in 2006, Porsche started work on a massive redesign. Porsche wouldn’t be outdone by its luxury rival, dropping 100 million euros on a new building and new exhibits. The stunning building opened in 2009 and is home to 80 exhibits taking you on a long and interactive journey through the company’s history.
Deutsches Museum - Munich
Germany has the world’s largest science and technology museum that attracts 1.5 million visitors each year. Deutsches Museum is located on an island in the middle of the Isar River in Munich. The museum can easily be an all-day experience with 28,000 objects on display from 50 fields of science and technology spread over 25,000 square meters of floor space. This isn’t your walk-around-and-gaze-at-objects museum. It is one of the most interactive museums in all of Europe, with science shows, live experiments, a planetarium and observatory. This is a museum that will help the kiddos burn off all that energy of being cooked up inside for so long.
Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds - Nuremberg
One thing I’ve always admired about Germany is its drive to document and learn from its dark history. It does not sweep its past atrocities under the rug. An example of that is the Nazi Documentation Center in Nuremberg. In 1922, Hitler declared Nuremberg as the “City of Nazi Party Rallies.” Huge buildings were constructed to house Nazi groups like the SS and the Hitler Youth. Now, it’s a permanent location for the exhibit “Fascination and Terror” bearing witness to the propaganda used to spread the Nazi party’s hateful message and a look at the rallies hosted in Nuremberg.
Toy Museum - Nuremberg
If you’re needing something a bit lighter in Nuremberg, head to the Toy Museum. The museum has been around since 1977 and has a collection of 87,000 toys and antiquities! The museum details how toys have changed over the past 200 years. From medieval dolls to the modern-day battery-operated toys with all the bells and whistles, you can see how each generation played the day away. It’s a great museum for the kiddos. While they can’t play or touch most of the toys, there is a play station both inside and outside.
