Deutsches Museum Munich
If the word "museum" sounds boring to you: think again!
The Deutsches Museum Munich is not only one of the oldest (founded in 1903) and biggest museums of science and technology in the world, it is also a most fascinating and interactive museum for young and old explorers.
Located centrally in Munich, on the Museumsinsel (museum island) in the Isar river, it hosts exhibitions about science, industrial production, energy, transport, communication, environment and much more.
Unlike in other museums, here you can touch and do: at the interactive exhibits you
can start a physical experiment by pushing a button.
Watching how different shapes of ships create more or less waves in the water
or how different chemical substances react when brought together is as fun as informative.
The younger kids love to push the buttons, whereas the older (or grown-up) ones also enjoy studying the explanations on the information boards in English and German for each and every experiment.
Most male visitors are drawn immediately to the transportation exhibit. Deutsches Museum presents a complete submarine, airplanes in all shapes, ages and sizes, and a sailing ship among others.
I personally liked most the environment exhibit.
When entering the room, you find yourself in front of a huge transparent column filled with garbage:
this is the
quantity of waste one person produces in a year. Wow!
The next step explains how waste is reduced, recycled and treated. More environment modules teach facts and history of farming, water, air, climate, growth and pollution, as well as the ozone hole and global warming.
Probably the most unique part in the German Museum is the Altamira Cave.
The original Altamira caves in Spain with Stone Age paintings of animals have been declared
a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
But due to the many visitors, their condition has deteriorated so much; they had to be closed to the public.
Your best (and probably only) option to have a glimpse of them is here in the Deutsches Museum,
where you can visit a faithful copy
of the main cave with the paintings.
One day is not enough to visit all the exhibitions. Chose the ones you're most interested in and spend as much time there, as you want. Or until the guardian asks you to leave, because the museum is closing ;-)
Apart from the central location, the Deutsches Museum Munich has two subsidaries. Verkehrszentrum (transport center) at Theresienhöhe, for all exhibitions about cars and trains and Flugwerft Schleissheim (former Airfield) in Oberschleissheim with even more airplanes. You'll need an extra day for each of them.
Have fun!
