The Mercedes Museum, Stuttgart Germany

So yesterday Dave, Rio and I took my in-laws down to the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart.  You may recall that our trip to the Porsche Museum in the same city was quite disappointing.  This was absolutely NOT the case at the Mercedes museum, which was extremely well done.

Here's the group in front of the museum, as well as a photo of the Mercedes Headquarters next door.

The entry fee was reasonable: 8 Euros for adults, kids under 15 free and students or seniors 4 Euro.

After buying a ticket and getting your (included) audio guide, you board the elevator, designed to look like a time capsule:

As you rise to the top floor, you are taken "back in time" to the very dawn of the automobile; back to a time when this was the main form of transport (other than one's own feet):

In 1886, Carl Benz created what is considered to be the first automobile: The Benz Patent Motorwagon.  It was first shown to the public right down the road from us, in Mannheim, Germany.

As Benz perfected his motor, he experimented with its use in many other items:

The fire engine below was horse drawn, but the engine pumped water at a rate that replaces 32 men!

Eight short year later the Benz Velo became the first mass produced automobile:

This one, which could take two passengers, followed shortly thereafter:

How ODD to have the passengers face the driver, blocking his view!

It didn't take long for that design flaw to be noticed and rectified by this back to back model:

There were several other early Benz models in the gallery.  At the end of the gallery, visitors spiral down a ramp to the next gallery one level below. All along the outer wall of the ramp are historical photos and small descriptions of important events throughout the world as well as in automotive history.  It was very well done, and was a nice way to connect the museum's history with larger world events.

In the second gallery, we see the dawn of the Mercedes era, when the newly founded Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft named a new vehicle after board member'S daughter Mercedes Jellinek (Daimler and Benz merged in 1926).  Here is Mercedes at age 11:

This is the oldest surviving vehicle to bear the Mercedes name:

The galleries continue moving through history, as you descend, 

It was extra cool that the last stop on this historical journey was one with electric cars, since we have this awesome little car on loan to us this weekend (Dave's company makes some of the parts and needs them tested under real world conditions--so they let employees use the prototype on weekend; an awesome win win situation if I ever heard of one!):

The final level of the main museum is a tribute to Mercedes race cars:

Off to the side of all the mid level spiral floors are special galleries with various themes.  You can head into each and then back onto the main spiral as you go down, or take the historical tour first, return to the top and then go through just these galleries, which are connected to one another with stairways.  

The Gallery of Voyages highlights the Mercedes buses.  I really like the colorful 1960s era Argentinian bus:

There is a Gallery of Helpers featuring work vehicles like ambulances, and a very roomy trash truck:

The Celebrity Gallery includes Princess Di's red Mercedes and the Popemobil:

The lower levels of the museum also contain a simulator (priced reasonably at 4 Euro for a 4 minute test of various Mercedes race cars, but be warned the line moves very slowly), a cafeteria, a gift shop and a hands on area for kids:

All in all, we had an excellent day at the museum (and a nice dinner afterwards too; I will try to blog about that soon as well).  If you ever find yourself in Stuttgart with a little time on your hands, this museum is well worth a visit.

--Hadley