Tobu World Square (Nikko)

This was one other place we stopped in the Nikko area, just before heading home.  The park is a collection of VERY detailed 1/25 scale models of various famous buildings and other structures all around the world.  It didn't sound very interesting from the description, but it ended up being a fascinating place, and we spent over 3 hours there.  First, the level of detail of the models was incredible.  And second, it was interesting to see the models of various structures, say, the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building, close to each other, built in the same scale, so you could see how big they are relative to each other.  (Yes they did have the NY World Trade Center, and there was a sign and collection tray for aiding the victims.)

Here's a model of Tokyo station, complete with two running trains that would pull in and out of the station.

Here's Notre Dame, which we of course saw recently on our honeymoon.  (Click here for one of our pictures of the real thing.)

And the Arc de Triomphe, which we also saw on our honeymoon (click here).

Doesn't the picture of the Vatican below almost look real?  It was amazing how many model people there were, it must have been thousands.

Here's what it really looked like.  And note the Eiffel Tower in the upper left corner.

Here we are in the Egypt section.  (No, the camel was not 1/25 scale this time.)

Here's the model of Himeji Castle.  Compare this to the picture I took of the real thing (click here).

Finally, here's a model of the Forbidden City in China.  To get an idea of how big the model is, look for the 2 people standing just beyond the upper left corner of the model.