I've been given a fantastic opportunity to accompany a friend / businessman of mine to the Nuremberg Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany. I expect this to be very interesting as Germans are serious toy makers and this is a HUGE event. A couple of years ago I attended the NMRA National Train Show in Detroit and the Zimo guys I spoke to said that show didn't even compare to Toy Fair. Prior to that moment, I though the Detroit show was HUGE!
Following the Fair, we decided to stay in Europe a few days longer and do some sight seeing, and decided on the Czech Republic, with the visit centered in Prague.
I'll be taking a camera along and will certainly share any rail or model related photos that I think this group may enjoy.
My primary reason for posting, however, is to get feedback from this community on anything I should take a look at. We don't have an itinerary yet for the second half of the trip (the German side is going to be pretty crowded, I think), so if you know of any interesting sites or events in the Czech Republic, let me know!
Matt
Note: The birthplace of Pilsner beer and possibly the CZ firearms factory are well up there on things I'd LIKE to see!
There is a Czech company that makes tinplate O gauge trains for both Europe and American prototypes the company is called ETS. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ets-trains.com">http://www.ets-trains.com</a><!-- m --> phone +420-244-403-500 <--- In Czech Republic 8-) Also in Germany look for TT scale trains.
Hope that helps.
Was stationed in Germany for two years. Rode the trains everywhere.
Nuremberg was a nice town.
As far as the Czech Republic.....I can only tell what I saw from a half mile away, surrounded by chain link fence, mines and real mad dogs.
I rode the trains from So. Germany to Holland, and also from So. Germany to Bavaria. I don't know anything about the Czech Republik. But take pictures of anything and everything, or you someday you may wish you had!!
Thanks for the replies all!
I'll make sure I drink beer, look at TT scale stuff and will do my best to take photos of anything that rolls, doesn't roll, looks new or old!
To that end, I decided against taking my Nikon D40 (smaller SLR) in favor of a big point and shoot. I figured I was more likely to take more pictures if I had something that was fairly easy to keep on person all the time. I decided on a Panasonic TZ5 - it has a very large zoom range yet will still retract the lens fully into the body when turned off. Also invested in a spare battery for both it and my Camcorder (Canon HF10) and got spare SD cards for both. The camcorder may get left at home if the movie mode on the Panasonic is good enough, which will make things simpler (I had initially been planning 3 cameras - the D40, my wife's pocket camera and the camcorder!).
I've been busy wringing my hands about all those things you can't fully plan for (like the weather), though I've just about got apparel nailed down. I'm going during the coldest part of the season, but the temp shouldn't be much different than here in Ohio - about 25deg F. This, of course, guarantees three feet of snow and frigid temperatures, or a 60 degree heat wave, so I'm planning on layers and dual purpose, comfortable footwear.
Then there's the confirmation of medical coverage, currency exchange rates, what to carry on a long flight, etc. etc.
So much more to plan! Thanks again for the feedback!
Matt - the international travel noob
If possible, alter your eating and sleeping patterns to closer match the time zone you are traveling to a week or so before you go. For me, It significantly helped cut down on jet lag so that upon arrival, instead of feeling like going somewhere to crash for a while, I hit the ground running instead.
That's a good idea, though I tend to be a night owl, which is exactly the opposite of what I'd need to do! Accord ing to my world clock, it's just past 5am there now - I'm in for a long first day!
My brother, nephew and a friend of the family traveled much of Europe in Spring of '08, and their favorite city to visit by far was Prauge. I'm not sure what made them feel this way, but overall they felt that it was the city that they wished they could have spent more time in.
Best wishes and safe travels!
I returned just about a week ago - once I get my photos parsed down, I'll have to share some.
The Nuremburg International toy fair was huge, and fascinating - I did a lot of walking. In the train area, Marklin, Fleischman, Roco, Brawa, Noch, Bachman and others had *huge* displays. They take their trains seriously. The most amusing thing was live female models, in swimsuits, at the Preiser exhibit. I just didn't expect that in a model train hall, let alone for a maker of figures for scale models. Beyond the trains, there were buildings and buildings full of dolls, RC, live steam, die cast cars, childrens toys, crafty wood stuff, cheap crap, it went on and on.
Prague was indeed fascinating - it has an extensive old town area with lots of those narrow winding roads that we Americans find so fascinating and quaint. And they drive cars on them! All roads in old town were cobblestone, all sidewalks were constructed of thousands of 2" square blocks of Limestone and Granite. A lot of effort there. The city is lousy with trams (i.e., there are a lot of them!)
A note about cars - 75% seemed to be diesels. Many of those it was difficult to tell that that was the case. I didn't see one automatic transmission. Even my buddy's German friend's minivan was a five speed on the console.
The best part of the trip, in both Germany and the Czech Republic was talking to people who lived there. My buddy has been doing business in Germany for 5 years or so, and has several good friends. We had one business meeting in Prague, and after the handshake, had lunch and talked for another three hours. Good stories from different cultures.
And it's true. By my contacts and observation, it appears that Europe is in love with our new President. I saw more books about the Obama's in an Amsterdam airport bookshop than I think I've seen anywhere here at home!
Only rode one train - the Subway in Prague. I feel ashamed...
Matt
Welcome back, Can't wait to see the pics.
Great to hear you enjoyed yourself. Czech Republic is high on my list of places I'd like to visit. I am working on a railroad in Jamaica right now, so I know what you mean about different cultures! I am looking forward to chilidogs when I get off the plane! I'm on day 7 of 30 right now. Interesting about the Prieser Swimsuit models, I'd LOVE to see that. Did Bachmann's display have American prototypes in it?
OK, a couple of photos to start out with.
First, between the hotel and the toy fair was this odd structure. The first day I saw it, it seemed familiar, but wasn't sure why. The second day it dawned on me that this was the place that Hitler held those huge rallies that you see on the newsreels:[
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When getting to the fair, I saw the following sign, so if anyone asks you where you saw these photos, you never heard of me... :lol In fact, I was one of many, many camera toters...
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And because Tom asked, the Preiser swimsuit models. After I took this photo, I asked if their role was to just be seen, the woman laying down said "of course". My American upbringing just wouldn't let me take another picture - I would've felt like a heel. Others had no qualms taking close ups (Note the guy on the right chatting them up
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More later.
The previous day, in the same location as the swimsuit models, a gentleman was doing a working demonstration of figure sculpting. In the first photo, the sculptor was telling another man about the properties of the modeling material. Apparently it is not normal clay, but this is the most I could pull out of the conversation and attendant body language. My German is *not* that good...
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I have a few other photos, but most folks on this board are aware of the quality of Preiser figures. What we don't often see in the U.S. is the nudes: a solid dozen or two in HO, but what stood out were the G-scale quartet of strippers - including poles!
(Actually, I think they were produced by Merten, which was under the same tent as Preiser)
Matt
This has nothing to do with trains, but it caught my eye. I didn't note the scale (my guess is 1:72), but in real life it was a good 12' high. There's a toy for every boy, I suppose.
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Matt