Europe 2019: Grand Maket

Europe 2019

Grand Maket

Saint Petersburg, Russia

This was one of those stops that our guides added since we requested interesting things for our 4-year-old daughter, and I'm glad they did. It's simply a giant model of "life in Russia", but it was fascinating! I think 'maket' just stands for market, so it would be the Grand Market?

Samantha liked it, but I'm not sure it wasn't more entertaining for me....and maybe Branelle and Nana as well.

It's a fairly new place - I think it opened in 2011. It's clean and modern and the detail is just staggering. 

It's hard to get the scale from our pictures, but this one shows how it just goes on and on. The model covers 8600 sq ft, making it the 2nd largest layout in the world - apparently there is one in Hamburg that's bigger. The whole thing is HO scale, or 1:87.

It doesn't just sit there either. There are all kinds of things moving all the time and they have buttons (Sam is pushing one here) that make things happen on demand as well. Cars move by using electricity from underneath the layout and there are over 8200 ft of railway with over 450 switch boxes. 

The lighting is also pretty amazing. There are more than 500,000 LED lights so the model doesn't have shadows. Every 13 minutes the entire place goes from day to night for two minutes and it's like a whole new model.

It's also a tourist spot to be sure. If you'll notice the guy with the camera in the picture above - they walk around and take pictures of you without you realizing it (I thought he was just photographing the model) and then when you leave through the gift shop they have them printed on the wall for purchase kind of like getting off a ride at Disneyworld. 

I didn't mind at all though. They leave you alone while you're touring the model and everyone was very pleasant. 

They have a little something for everyone. Nel found space stuff and Sam found treasure. Anya was nice enough to give Samantha some coins to drop in the treasure chest.

It's a really neat stop and one that I think you'll enjoy if you make it. We probably only spent about an hour there and I think that was perfect. I have no idea how much it cost - Anya either already had tickets or paid for everything everywhere we went so I don't know how much anything cost.

The area around Grand Maket was alright I think, but I didn't notice any restaurants in the immediate vicinity. They have a cafe on site, but we didn't eat there. This is the parking lot, which was gated if I remember correctly, and there's Edward in our van parked as close to the exit as was physically possible...as always.