I%26#39;m considering taking my son to Germany and visiting the Phaeno Science Museum - does anyone know if the information for the individual exhibits is in English as well as German? Thanks!
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We%26#39;ve just returned from Germany so I%26#39;ll answer my own question. Plus, a little Phaeno trip-report!
My son and I took the train from Berlin to Wolfsburg (the ICE train takes an hour - can book on http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml). We thoroughly enjoyed the train and had a six-seat compartment all to ourselves.
Once in Wolfsburg the Phaeno is steps away from the train station - you can%26#39;t miss it because it looks like a huge space ship.
We spent five hours at the Phaeno and I still had to drag my son out at closing time - there is so much to do there and everything is in both English and German. Even better, each activity has a sign with three sections - what to do, what to expect and what scientific principle it exemplified. Granted, I cared more about that than my son who just ran around trying everything.
The Phaeno staff were very helpful and went out of their way to show us things we might be interested in. For example, the announcement for the fire tornado is only in German. One of the staff came and found us to tell us when it was starting.
They also corrected me on one point - they said the Phaeno is not a museum but rather a science center because %26quot;a museum is %26#39;no touch%26#39;, here you must touch!%26quot;
The Phaeno cafe has pizza, pasta, special mains of the day, a salad bar, dessert case and ice-cream case. Plus, should you feel so inclined, little bottles of wine and beer. There are lockers at the Phaeno for coats, bags, etc . . . I suppose you could also bring your own lunch.
As if the Phaeno on it%26#39;s own wasn%26#39;t amazing enough - they also have a huge Lego section. Some amazing creations were on display and there was a area for kids to create their own creations and add them to a lego %26quot;town%26quot;. My son loves legos so to have access to tons of well-organized bins of legos? He was in lego heaven.
I wished we%26#39;d planned more time in Wolfsburg. It looked like a very nice city. The Phaeno is across the river from the VW headquarters and that would%26#39;ve been fun to visit.
We caught the 5:05 train back to Berlin having stocked up on some snacks (pretzels, donuts) from the bakery at the train station. It%26#39;s best to have reservations for seats on this train as it%26#39;s full of commuters. We were in first class which was less crowded but in second class people were sitting on the floor and in between the cars.
One other note - I think the Phaeno is best suited for kids age eight and up. There didn%26#39;t seem a lot aimed at the little kids. Actually, aside from a school group, most of the visitors we saw were adults. If you have an interest in science or modern architecture - this is a great day out.
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When I was the last time in Wolfsburg we visited the Autostadt of Volkswagen.
http://www.autostadt.de
This was before the Phaeno was opened.
Autostadt is also not easy do describe. Kind of a mixture between car museum, show room and leisure park. But had a similar problem as you. My fellow travelers explained beforehand that 2 hours are more than enough as they are not that interested in cars. And I had a hard time to get them out after 3,5 hours.
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