tiny things – Whimsy. Tacos. The DMV.

One of the things I was most looking forward to in Brussels is Mini-Europe. Mini-Europe is exactly what it sounds like- a 24,000 square meter park next to the Atomium in Bruparck containing models of well known structures from throughout the European Union, built in a scale of 1:25. It’s delightfully cheesy and wonderful.

Also, I made new friends there! The couple who sat down next to me on the metro on the way there turned out to be a Canadian couple who were traveling Europe, and we wound up hanging out together for Mini-Europe and the Atomium. Hi, Chelsea and Andrew!

I was really curious after seeing this as to what the telescope looked at. It turns out that it’s a slide-show about the history of the telescope.

Throughout the park, there are boats, cars, trains, and various other things in motion. This boat caught my attention because the dude in the front-left seat is wearing a Stormtrooper helmet. Unfortunately, it was too fogged up for me to see who else might be hiding in there.

This is the Grand Place in Brussels, depicted here with the carpet of flowers that is put down every second year. It will happen this year around August 15th.

The Belfry in Bruges. The big metal structure behind it is the Atomium… I’ll get back to that.

Random sailing ship!

At various points around the park, there are local outfits you can “try on.” Near London, there was this traditional uniform of the Queen’s Guard. Naturally, I couldn’t resist. (Special thanks to Andrew for snapping this shot of me.)

London. Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

The Eiffel Tower. Even at 1:25 scale, Eiffel’s Tower was enormous.

The Arc de Triomphe, Parisian version.

Sacre Coeur, also from Paris. The Funicular was running, too!

La Mancha! Check out the tiny Don Quixote and Sancho Panza!

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Scientific exploration? This is part of the detail on the Leaning Tower.

Venice. The Doge’s Palace and the Campanile tower.

I think this Gondolier needs a little help.

A tiny recreation of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Prague‘s Old Town Hall, containing the Astronomical Clock.

Athens, Greece.

After we were finished with Mini Europe, we stopped briefly at the gift shop, where Chelsea spotted this happy little kitty hanging out on the roof near the exit.

When these workers stepped into the pool in front of the 16th century Castle of Chenonceaux (France), all I could think was, “Giants in the playground!”

…and then it was time to go to the Atomium!

The Atomium was built for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. Its nine stainless steel wrapped spheres are connected to form the shape of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Four of the spheres contain exhibits, and the topmost sphere is a 360 degree observation deck and restaurant. There’s a webcam on top, at a height of 102 meters, if you want to check it out.

The Atomium has perhaps the best “You Are Here” maps I have ever seen.

…and the views are unparalleled. This is looking out from one of the spheres back toward Mini Europe.

This is the view straight up from the base of the Atomium.

And because I never get tired of the Atomium, here’s a shot from further afield that I took later in the day.

…and a rare picture of me standing in front of a landmark. I much prefer being on the other side of the camera.

Have you ever been to Mini-Europe or the Atomium?

A number of my Blog-Friends have posted about Miniatur Wunderland, but I didn’t know it existed the first time I visited Hamburg. I wish I had known, because it’s awesome and I want to go back sometime. The place is so incredibly detailed, there’s no way I saw absolutely everything. I’ll give you some examples…

The exhibit is broken into sections. There’s a Hamburg section, an America section, a Scandinavia section, Bavaria, Switzerland, and a large portion for the fictional town of Knuffingen. One of the most amazing parts is the Knuffingen airport, a large and completely automatic airport with planes landing and taxiing to the gate every few minutes. Oh, and every fifteen minutes, “night” falls and the lights change.

I took some video of one of the landings, because it was amazing.

There are also lots of smaller things happening. While I was there, this plane caught fire and tiny fire trucks raced over two it for about ten minutes…

The imaginative people who put the exhibit together aren’t shy about nudity either.

Speaking of the people behind the exhibit, they have a fairly sophisticated control system. Their monitoring area is in the exhibition area, which has got to be incredibly distracting:

…and they’re building new sections. I’ll have to come back in a few years when England is built. This section is going to be Italy!

There were fires in other parts of Knuffingen, but the firemen were ready to roll!

The core of Miniatur Wunderland is that it’s got automated model trains. Miniatur Wunderland is the world’s largest model train, in fact, with more than 12,000 meters of track.

There are lots of tiny jokes embedded throughout the Wunderland. For example, this kid has tossed his shirt in the bushes and he’s running, naked and free!

…while across the meadow, a pedophile watches him with binoculars. Kind of creepy, but also a little bit funny.

Meanwhile, in a giant field of flowers, another couple gets it on.

The fair was also incredibly detailed, with a half dozen moving rides. The ferris wheel, the spinny thing next to it, the bungee jump, and more, were all in motion.

The sports stadium in the Hamburg section had a game on.

One of the buildings in the Hamburg section opened up, and a tiny orchestra was playing- the various pieces of the orchestra were moving.

Meanwhile, in Scandinavia, weird shit is happening. I don’t know if there’s a real place that looks like this. It wouldn’t surprise me, though.

Some of my favorite things were just little tiny gags that you might miss if you go through the Wunderland too fast. Here, we see a mole who has been busted by the Polizei for digging a hole in the park.

…and cows wearing scuba gear. Seriously.

Master criminals at work!

…and in the America section, Area 51 has a Stargate! (And little green dudes playing basketball!)

When the Wunderland chooses to duplicate a real building, they do an amazing job of it. Here’s tiny Miami Beach.

… and here’s tiny Las Vegas.

The Grand Canyon.

They’re amazing at buildings, but I don’t think they really understand America’s relationship with sports. The baseball player ready to hit the pigskin thrown by the football player while an elderly couple and a flamenco dancer look on is pretty confusing.

The Wunderland makes up for that weirdness with lots of incredibly detailed tableaus. Here’s a very intricately detailed concert.

They’ve really thought of everything… the tiny concertgoing people even get a row of tiny porta-potties!

…and in the crowd of that concert, I found more adventurous cows! These two seem to be wearing shower caps. Maybe it’s the scuba diving cows from earlier…