On Wednesday, we spent all day (10am-6pm) at the Estonian Open Air Museum, which we'd learnt about via our Lonely Planet Europe guidebook. It was fantastic!
The enormous complex, located in a forest by the sea, was a 15-minute Bolt (Estonian Uber) ride from our accommodation. It consisted of many small farms/ buildings connected by dirt roads. The buildings were mostly original ones that had been donated to the museum and relocated there.
The buildings displayed various aspects of rural life in Estonia's past. Many of them had traditionally costumed staff tinkering around (e.g. doing handicrafts, gardening, chopping wood) or helping visitors with the hands-on activities (e.g. feeding geese, trying out wooden stilts).
It also had a wonderful interactive exhibit for kids about taking care of the environment, linking this to how farm kids lived in the past (e.g. using every part of the animal, not littering or throwing away food). Most of the museum's signs included English translations too. It was all very well-thought-out, well-maintained and educational!
We'll let our photos explain the rest...
It was a huge place!Sharpening a cross-cut saw.It was interesting to see thatch up close — we hadn't realised it would be so thick. The top inch or so was damp, but under that was dry!There were lots of school groups visiting the museum as well. Here they are learning to thresh wheat. One poor kid clocked himself in the head and was ushered outside by staff and teachers.The boys having a go at threshing wheat.
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This sign showed us which types of animals we were tall enough to herd.Unlocking the animals. J especially liked all the different old padlocks and other locking systems. He even agreed that he might like to be a locksmith (and promptly asked B to teach him to pick locks).
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Even A enjoyed the playground.
Fishing with magnets.Success... finally caught the big one!There were several amusing cartoons near the playgrounds. 😁Firing the sharpened ends of new fence posts.Trimming and sharpening new fence posts.Trying wooden stilts.
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Getting a helping hand on the stilts.
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A's turn on the stilts.
A game where they had to roll up the string as fast as possible to see who reached the middle first!Hand mill stones.Awesome mossy walls.
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If you look closely you might just see, and if you listen closely you should hear (tock tock), the woodpecker in this video. You'll have to take our word for it that he was very cute.
Giant sling shots at a playground. Eventually we found a bean bag on the ground so stopped trying to launch J. 😜Successful launch.A little moss on the thatch!Cart and sleighs.Forest track between the farm exhibits.A thatch-roofed church originally built over 300 years ago.Vines! 😍Six-person swing.Gobble gobble!This kids' exhibit on sustainability was great.Skates made of bone!"Compile a healthy plate" activity.J also built a ladder. It was successfully tested for sturdiness.We found two giant rabbits (hares?) in a hutch. 😍Sunlight shining through his/her ear! 🐰The boys found some cute snails.Putting the snails back where they found them.Firehouse.Wicker fences on stone walls.More windmills.F found an acorn.Slug!Inside a windmill.We played a game called Nine Men's Morris.A photo on the wall inside the windmill.
We only left when the museum closed for the day. B's Google Fit showed that we walked about 9km here too!
