Thursday, July 26, 2012

Netherlands July 25



Openair museum was like the Gennesee country museum, but larger and about the Dutch. I bought a museum pass at the gate and this turned out to be an excellent purchase, for it got me into almost every museum I came across afterwards.

This calliope at the entrance turned out to be the first of several we saw. All of the others were found in town squares.




I wish I had noted the age of the wattle and daub building to the left.  It was the barn and home of the family, with very little delineation between. It probably was warmer in the winter, but also in the summer and the bugs from the cow manure and chickens and such must have been pretty unsanitary. Not a big surprise people didn't live too long.
To the right is the schoolhouse. The big difference between the one here and the one at the New York Genesee Country museum is that the one in this photo has a fire pit as opposed to a wood stove.
This windmill was a new one for me.  It stood on the ground without any building, but it could still be moved to orient it to the wind.



These railcars and trolleys were from before WWII.  Arnhem was basically totally destroyed in a WWII battle, so all the buildings came there from somewhere else.  As a matter of fact, the museum existed before the battle and sheltered civilians during WWII. Sad to say that many of the rail cars on display only reminded me of the ones in movies which carried away Jews and other undesirables to concentration camps.
Highlights also included the paper maker, who made paper out of rags, and the laundry, where the pulverizers were run by horses. The "wood" boxes for the fire were filled with peat
 laundry



notice all the parts of the laundry are wood, including the gears and posts. It was very clever; a horse on a roundabout would turn the gear, which would move "pistons" up and down and slam a plunger thing down into the barrel filled with clothes, water and soap.








 
There was a special machine that would grind up the rags. Everything here was run by the windmill up top.
We also visited the Airbourne Museum, which described the battle of Arnhem.  Sometimes it bothers me, especially in the gift shops, that we glorify the battles. The last display in the basement attempted to give visitors an idea of the terror of the battlefield.
We ate dinner on the Rhine, in Arnhem, which has been totally rebuilt. We were joined by Robbert, Sara's boyfriend.


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