Munich: Expensive Letterbox, Big Museum

March 19, 2010

We spent our last day in Germany exploring Munich. Since we had a late start from Garmisch we didn't get to see nearly as many things as we had hoped to...actually we only made it to two spots, but both were memorable in their own ways. Our first destination was a tiny alley where we parked illegally, dashed out into the cold, and followed clues to discover our first urban letterbox and also our first European letterbox! We have missed letterboxing since moving to Sicily so it was pretty exciting to find the box and to see some of the cool European stamps in the book. However, our excitement was dampened quite a bit when we accidentally scraped a rock while exiting that little alley. A few days later we were informed by our rental car company that the scratch (max 4 inches long and labeled on our exit sheet as "do not repair") will cost us $1200!Conveniently, the letterbox location was just a block or two away from our next destination: the world's largest science museum, The Deutsches Museum. It lived up to it's reputation with us and we literally had to drag the kids away at closing time. It is miles and miles of cool exhibits and interactive displays. Highlights from the small chunk of what we saw: the big display of ships (may not sound interesting, but really it was with boats from all over the world and different time periods), the kid's kingdom (pure hands-on fun for little guys with elaborate water area, huge legos, interesting musical instruments, not as big as some children's museums in the States, but still worthwhile), the amazing miniature train display (it runs at specific times during the day and we caught the tail end of it), and the robots. Similar to the Smithsonian experience, you could probably visit this museum every day for a week and still not see it all. Most things are in English and if not, just about everyone we encountered spoke English and was very helpful.I think we will always remember Munich as the place with the world's most expensive letterbox and the world's largest science museum. Highly recommend a visit, just be careful when backing your rental car out of a small alley or perhaps just stick with local transportation! Also, FYI there is a children's playroom and an outdoor playground at the Munich airport that sound great, but we didn't have time to check them out. Want to see more cool travel posts from around the world? visit Delicious Baby.
House Mother said...

Happy to see some letterboxing action, and appreciate the photos from the science museum -- looks wonderful!

boatbaby said...

Hey, I think a huge display of ships sounds pretty darn interesting!
;)
How fun to letterbox around Europe. We like geocaching and can't wait until we're on the go more and can do it world wide.

Nancy said...

I am sorry to hear about the car damage! I hope there is something you can do to avoid that charge.

We are planning on starting letterboxing this year--we are lucky enough to be near several in our own town.

Perhaps you could establish one or two of your own while in Sicily for others to find? I googled "how to create a letterbox" and found quite a bit of advice--or perhaps you've done this already!

Jen@TwoKidsandaMap said...

1200 dollars?! I am so sorry to hear that. I am glad you had a good time on your visit. When we were in Munich we had the Deutsches Museum on our list of things to see but we had to cut it due to time constraints. Now that I have seen your kids pictures there I wish we hadn't missed it. Oh well...something to put on the schedule next summer!

Corinne said...

That MUSEUM!~! OH how I would love to take my children there :)

Amy @ The Q Family said...

So sorry about your car damage. Ouch! $1,200!

We have yet to try the letter box on our vacation. Looks like it's something that my kids will enjoy!

likeschocolate said...

I haven't been to that museum yet, the next time we are in Munich we will have to check it out.

Kerry Dexter said...

That exhibit of ships sounds like fun.

Tami and Bobby Sisemore Family said...

wow! amazing pics
Blessings
Tami
Praying Jeremiah home quickly
www.tillGodbringsthemhome.blogspot.com

Michaela said...

Hello, I am a bavarian girl (father and sister living in Munic) and mother of two children, our son adopted domestically and our daughter from Cathwel. I love to read your blog. I hope you enjoyed your trip in Germany and your mixed feelings could be destroyed a little bit! If you ever visit the north of Germany too, please email me. You are very welcome!!
Warmest regards! Michaela

Dim Sum, Bagels, and Crawfish said...

Michaela, thanks so much for your comment! We would love to visit Northern Germany and we would love to meet you and your family. It is always fun to meet others with a connection to Cathwel and Taiwan. Lets stay in touch.

Dim Sum, Bagels, and Crawfish said...

To all who expressed an interest in letterboxing....YES! give it a try! We love that it gets us out to explore new areas, we love seeing all of the cool handmade stamps (although you don't have to make your own, store-bought is ok, too), and we have some great souvenirs and memories from our travels in our letterboxing journal. We haven't planted any in Sicily yet...but hope to soon.

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