Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Planetenwege!

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Last week, I composed a map of all the scale models of solar system in the United States that could be hiked, biked or driven. I then set about researching all those in other countries, first predictably finding the easy Google-searches on other continents, second surprised that I couldn't find ANY in Russia (still weird), and third finding that Deutschland holds the record for a whopping 106 planet walks inside their borders!

And if we count the one that straddles the Swiss border, the total is 107.


Quite a list! Covering every part of the country. Credit for this amazing compilation goes to Bernhard Kletzenbauer, a Technical Illustrator who lives in the town of Weckesheim, Germany. Be sure to read hs new finds since his last update, and scout around his awesome photo galleries, documenting all the models he has visited personally.

The rest of Europe has less than half Germany's number, hovering around 50, with a few under construction. America holds 30 even that I’ve found so far. (To put this in perspective, Germany would fit twice into Texas.)

Texas size and Europe size
Guten tag, Ya'll

I guess you could say I cheated on this one a little. Since I found that someone else had done all the work for me in this particular nation, I'm just referring to him! In terms of individual descriptions, most links to websites and scales can be found on the German Planetenweg Wiki page.

The majority are standardized at a scale of 1 : 1 billion, and from one end to another (i.e. the Sun to Pluto), about 6km in a line, and 12km or 7.5 miles roundtrip). Hats off to our Deutsche brothers and sisters for such valuable learning tools all over their nation. Thanks, Bernhard!

Bernhard Kletzenbauer Planetenwanderwege Deustchland
Over the course of the next week, I'll compile a list of all the rest across Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. *Spoiler* The world record holder is in Sweden...!