[Nikhilb2008]

After this, our stomachs were rumbling and even though there was still a lot to see, we decided to head out to the city centre, explore the farmer's market which happens once a year and have lunch somewhere.

The farmer's market was a wonderful experience. The atmosphere was very lively and cheerful.










The restaurant where we had lunch. It was an old bunker which got covered up and no one knew it existed. During some renovation activity, it was discovered that this bunker existed. It was converted to a wine cellar and then a restaurant.







The main church of Speyer. Beautiful looking church.





The main organ of the church. One of the largest in the world. Only 2 people in the world are qualified to play music on it I believe.





There is a way to go to the top of one of the towers and get a beautiful view of the entire town of Speyer including a Nuclear Power Plant in the distance.

[Nikhilb2008]

After lunch, we went back to the Speyer museum and continued looking at vintage cars.



This is what remains of a Messerschmitt Me-110 which belonged to the destroyer squad 76 and was stationed in Northern Norway. In 1945, it was forced to make an emergency landing on a frozen sea in Sweden. When the ice melted, the aircraft sank to the bottom of the sea. 50 years later it was salvaged by the museum and brought to Speyer.





These are the remains of the Junkers JU 52/3M. The history of this plane is explained in this picture.





This is a truck that was modified to be able to run on rails as well.




This is a mini submarine. It was manned by just one person and had just one torpedo. A major disadvantage of using a U boat was that it had to fire from afar and accuracy was somewhat low. And if it got too close to the enemy, it had a high risk of being sunk. So, the operator would pilot this mini submarine very close to the enemy ship and launch a torpedo at almost point blank range.



A Corvette Stingray.






A nice BMW


Fiat 124 Sports Coupé




1960 BMW 502





Lockheed F-104 G Starfighter




1938 Mercedes-Benz Gelandwagen G5. This is the original G Wagen. Notice the rear wheel steering.



1929 Packard Straight Eight Coupé

[Nikhilb2008]

1983 Daimler Benz Gepanzertes Schutzfahrzeug

This car was specially built for the German Military Police. It's an armoured cross country vehicle based on the Mercedes Model G. It comes with steel armour plating qnd bullet proof glass.






1937 Jaguar SS



1949 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith







1930 Maybach Zeppelin



1942 GMC DUKW 353

This car was used in every amphibious operation by land by the Allies in the second World War. It consumes about 40 litres of gas for every 100 kms.




1943 DeHavilland Vampire FB 6




1936 Rolls Royce Phantom 3



1930 Rolls Royce 20/25




Some more views of the museum in general.

[Nikhilb2008]

On our last day in Germany, we had a flight to catch at 8:00 pm and we had at least half a day to relax.

Our host first took us to a Wine festival in Bad Durkheim which closes a few days before the Oktoberfest opens in Munich. We went in the morning when most of the stalls were just opening up and getting ready for the afternoon rush.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wurstmarkt

This festival is more than just wine. They have rides, scary houses, etc to entertain people of all ages. And the tents are large and have a lot of music playing and people dancing. The food also looks amazing (going by the menus many of them had on the outside of the stalls).


















A beautiful typical German house.



My dad holding a massive packet of popcorn! Didnt think places outside the US would have such supersize packs!



This "wine barrel" theoretically has a capacity of 1.6 million litres I believe. However, it functions as a restaurant!




A beautiful S Class.





After walking around the festival, we went up the mountains to the vineyards. A nice view of the town from up there!





After this, we drove to Heidelberg to visit the ruins of an old castle. Along the way we saw the ruins of 2 more castles above the highway.





The following are pics of what remains of Heidelberg castle.












This once was a very strong tower to defend the castle from invaders. It was about 20 feet think I'm told. Supposedly, it ws destroyed from inside. The story is that Napolean conquered the castle and then tried to destroy this solid tower. He didnt succeed completely.

[moralfibre]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to Travelogues. Thanks for sharing!

[D4D]

These museums sure do carry too much of history.

Terrific photos of these great cars.

Nice to hear how americans changed the laws of le-mans and porsche was dominating.

Great set of photos, I enjoyed them completely.

[Nats]

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008

1980 Mercedes-Benz 230G Popemobile. Made for Pope John Paul II's visit in 1980 to Germany to protect him from wind and rain. After the assassination attempt in May 1981, this was modified with bulletproof glazing and glass. After the modification, this car accompanied the Pope on many of his journeys.

Attachment 1302733

Look at the Alloys of Popemobile.

[Fullrevs]

Great pictures Nikhil. Takes me back to 2007 when I visited the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. I found a day just not enough to explore the museum. The Porsche museum was still under construction that time. Between the two, which did you prefer the most?

Ive still got tonnes of pictures stored in my computer and can put up a few if its ok with Nikhil. Germany is one of my favourite countries for sight-seeing. N they probably create the best museums in the world.

[S2!!!]

Thanks for taking time off to write a bit some history/facts behind the cars. You've penned down so many facts that I was never aware about and am sure many others weren't either. The thread wasn't merely a photologue but was an informative read. Great work

Thanks for sharing!

[Nikhilb2008]

Originally Posted by Fullrevs

Great pictures Nikhil. Takes me back to 2007 when I visited the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. I found a day just not enough to explore the museum. The Porsche museum was still under construction that time. Between the two, which did you prefer the most?

Ive still got tonnes of pictures stored in my computer and can put up a few if its ok with Nikhil. Germany is one of my favourite countries for sight-seeing. N they probably create the best museums in the world.

Please do post more! It will be fun!

I find it hard to pick between the two. I really cant!

[rakesh_r]

Great pictures Nikhil. During one of my onsite stints in Germany (Freilassing to be more precise), me and my colleague drove all the way to Stuttgart to visit the iconic Porsche and Mercedes Museum. These museums have a lot of history. I in my entire lifetime would never forget and would always cherish every moment . Another reason to cherish was, this was my first 400Km stint on the Autobahn where I thoroughly enjoyed driving a VW Jetta.
I also visited the BMW museum at Munich the very next day . I hope you too have visited the same.

Again,thanks for sharing

[joe_antony]

Awesome Bro! Thanks a lot for sharing. I felt like an ant fallen in to a Jelly Bean jar. So much history and evolution in front of the eyes. At job, I am going to hunt for an account with a German client now.

[NKR]

A great Photologue. Thanks for sharing the pics and the associated history behind the cars. Keep travelling and keep sharing. Cheers

[Zed]

The Mercedes museum beautifully combines the story and the evolution of the brand, starting with the early work of Karl Benz and Gottleib Daimler, using significant geopolitcal and cultural milestones as backdrops to the narration. This makes the museum a treat not just for pertol-heads but to history & art aficiandos. Not to forget the structural element that grabs the attention of folks with even a fleeting interest in architecture and design.

These elements come together to deliver a seamless audio-visual experience. Ive visitied this museum five time in the past 3 years and there are exhibits and stories that I am yet to explore.

[ranjan84]

Nikhil, this thread brought back memories of my first visit to Automechanika, in 2010, when we drove extensively from Frankfurt to the Bosch plant in Karlshrue and then further to Zuffenhausen, Heidelberg and Alsace. The museums are indeed a treasure! Thanks for sharing.