Panzer (Tank) Museum, the city of Celle and really cool water powered miniatures

Tanks  - and more Tanks

Not long before we began our German adventure, a friends mentioned that there was supposedly an extensive Tank Museum in Germany. At the time, one of our boys was very much a tank enthusiast. All year he has been waiting for this trip and we finally found time to do it. We had no idea what to expect out of this museum so we were surprised to see how huge it was. They had examples from the first tanks all the way to modern tanks. 

We called up our friends in Hannover and asked if they would like to go with us. Generous as always, they insisted on driving us to the museum and even prepared the Spring delicacy of Spargel (Asparagus).

Only about an hour from Hannover, we hopped on the Autobahn and were there in no time. 

Besides rooms full of tanks, the Museum was also filled with interesting historical items such as this (rather morbid) death Mask of Rommel.

All of the hundred or so tanks inside the building were "look with your eyes" kind of exhibits. The highlight of this tour  was an outside area with a tank that was free to climb in and around.

Our designated photographer snapped this shot of some sort of view finder within the tank.

We only had 2 hours to see everything in the museum. It would have been easy to spend a little more time, but they were pushing us out the door.

Once we finished our tour with a trip to the gift shop it was time to head back. Since there was no rush we stopped in the picturesque town of Celle. The day was a holiday so all of the stores were closed, except for a few restaurants and Ice cream parlors. 

As we were walking around we saw these restaurants, Steakhouse Indiana and Steakhouse Apache situated right next to each other. Huh.

On the way back to Hannover, 

Both of our children begged to be allowed to buy a souvenir. Both picked out the same tank. They could barely stand waiting till we reached Hannover and our friends home to put them together.

The next day we had a little time before we needed to leave for our train so we decided to  see the famous Wasserräder located near Hannover. A stream flows down the hill powering the mechanized miniatures. Many of the scenes were from German Fairy Tales.

Who can't resist riding a dragon?