Messel Fossil Museum
In case you couldn’t tell, I was headed to yet another UNESCO World Heritage site – Messel Pit Fossil Site. The name itself already made me want to go there with images of dinosaurs and fossils in my mind. I went to the city of Darmstadt south of Frankfurt and caught another bus to get to the village of Messel. I can tell that this is a very sleepy village as there were hardly any people walking around. I can’t blame them, it was below freezing and no one would want to be walking around in this weather. The village itself is home to the Messel Fossil Museum and it was just a short walk away from the bus stop.
Cart Used to Transport Rocks at the Messel Fossil Museum
The museum building is a nicely built timber framed, but much too small for a full blown museum with such geological importance. To my dismay, the museum itself is closed to visitors. It looks like winter isn’t really a good time to come here. There would not be the first time I would be greeted by closed doors and I think it is more acute here in Germany compared to nearby France. This is not the Messel Pit Fossil Site itself. For that you would need to head out of the village and go to the site. I had no intentions of walking all the way there only to be greeted by closed gates. When I passed by the site, it looked like there wouldn’t be anyone there. I decided not to go anymore and just head back to Darmstadt, surely, it won’t be closed.
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