Photos of Munich '03

Spielzeugmuseum

(Toy Museum)

Munich, Germany

November 13, 2003

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I'm not sure if this is a new museum or a temporary one, but I didn't find it listed in my guide book. It may just be that it's so small, no one has paid any attention to it. It's located on the five floors of the tower of the Alten Rathausturm in the Marienplatz. Because I love teddy bears, I was happy I did find it.

There were a few displays of toy trains, dolls, cars, etc. What you would expect. But the main exhibit was a history of teddy bears, with a focus on the Ivan Steiger family and their contribution to making teddy bears a part of childhood for many people.

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1 - This is the tower where the toys are displayed. You can see that it's not large, but it did hold many special bears. On the left of the tower is part of the Marienplatz.	2 - They have an elevator, but it wasn't working. A sign recommends that you start on the fifth floor and work your way down. I made it to the third before I was out of breath and had to take a break before climbing further. I'm also a bit claustrophobic and the narrow winding stairs didn't help. But... I made it to the top.	3 - A nice teddy bear welcome!

4 - One of the collections of toys not related to bears.	5 - A display of miniture circus animals and structures, along with a few clown bears.	6 - The view as you come through the doors of one of the floors. The room isn't much bigger than the photo shows.

7 - Sweet bears. There's even an old Paddington bear in the upper left corner.	8 - This little bear from 1938 is wearing corduroy Dutch pants.	9 - Walking along the streets of Munich, it was clear that the commercial part of the Christmas season had started. I thought this Santa bear deserved a mention.

10 - Speaking of Santa's, these teddy dolls reminded me of a stuffed Santa we had in my family when we were children. It was a stuffed Santa in a red plush suit with a plastic face. Each year when he was placed in our living room, all of us kids knew that Christmas was coming. As we've grown up, we've each asked mom if we could have it some day. She didn't have to pick between us... mice had eaten it years ago.	11 - One lucky teddy with an incredibly well stocked kitchen.	12 - Chocolate teddies with a mold. How old are these chocolates??? And they're still shiny!

13 - More on the Christmas theme... little teddy bear ornaments. Ever since I was an adult and had my own Christmas tree to decorate, I've focused it on a teddy bear theme. I would have loved to add some of these to my collection.	14 - Okay, this is a horrible photo, I know. It's not so easy to take photos through glass cases and the room was so dark that I had to use a flash on this one. But I loved these 'hula' teddies. So, just ignore the glare and accept my apologies.	15 - It had been a cold wintry day when I visited the museum. After seeing all the sweet bears, I felt very warm inside. However, these guys made me want to run down that narrow stairway and go home. I hope these weren't designed for small children.