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[Source: Ole C. Salomonsen]

Click here to view the embedded video.

[Source: Matthias Makarinus]

Let’s face it, some things in life just defy description.

The Grand Canyon… awe inspiring, yes, but does the phrase do it justice…?

The birth of a child… life affirming, true, but isn’t it mind boggling just the same…?

The popularity of Glenn Beck… okay, well maybe that one does defy description.

All of us have similar feelings about places we’ve visited, sights we’ve seen, and experiences we’ve had during our travels that are so jaw-dropping they… well, defy description; they have to be experienced first-hand to begin to even grasp them.

This… um… ‘railway system’ you’re about to visit is one such experience that surely must be awe-inspiring, mind-boggling and jaw-dropping in person, because the photos and video absolutely defy description.

I dare you to not be blown away by the Miniatur Wunderland Railway in Hamburg, Germany. Enjoy the trip!

This is the world’s biggest train set which covers 1,150 square meters (12,380 square feet), features almost 
six miles of track and is still not complete.



Twin brothers Frederick and Gerrit Braun, 41, began work on the ‘Miniatur Wonderland’ in 2000.



The set covers six regions including America, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Germany and the Austrian Alps.



The American section features giant models of the Rocky Mountains, Everglades, Grand Canyon…



…and Mount Rushmore.



The Swiss section has a mini-Matterhorn.



The Scandinavian part has a 4ft long passenger ship floating in a ‘fjord’.



It is expected to be finished in 2014, when the train set will cover more than 1,800 square meters (19,376 sq ft) and feature almost 13 miles of track, by which time detailed models of parts of France, Italy and the UK will have been added.



It comprises 700 trains with more than 10,000 carriages and wagons.



The longest train is 46ft long.



The scenery includes 900 signals, 2,800 buildings, 4,000 cars – many with illuminated headlights…



…and 160,000 individually designed figures.



Thousands of kilograms of steel and wood were used to construct the scenery.



The 250,000 lights are rigged up to a system which mimics night and day by automatically turning them on and off.



The whole system is controlled from a massive high-tech nerve center.



In total the set has taken 500,000 hours and more than €8 million to put together, the vast majority of which has come from ticket sales.



Gerrit said: “Our idea was to build a world that men, women, and children can be equally astonished and amazed in.”



These pictures are just a taste.

Watch the video below and be amazed!

All aboard! That’s all I can say.

[REW] – [Source]

Photographs and Video Copyright © Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg GmbH – Photographer: Frank Zarges

Location: Oia, Santorini, Greece

A three-week cruise through the islands of the eastern Mediterranean Sea is good for what ails anyone. But being dropped off on the island of Santorini, and then taking a quick 20 minute bus ride to the opposite end of the island to wander through the iconic hilly streets of Oia trumps even that!

[REW]

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Location: Istanbul, Turkey

The Turkish flag is a model of simplicity with its crescent and star on a striking red background. Turks are, by their nature, a very patriotic people and they fly their flag, not just from poles, but from apartment balconies, on walls and even draped from window sills as seen here on a side street.

[REW]

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