Spring visit to the open-air museum

Today we spend a spring visit to our local open-air museum in Molfsee. That is very near to Kiel, with houses from almost everywhere in Schleswig-Holstein. Definitely worth a visit! In the wintoer months the houses are closed, but at the weekends people can have a walk over the areal. Now the houses are opened again, which makes a visit far more interesting.
First stop is always the house with the toys. Right at the entrance there is a small cabinet with stuffed toys.

Look at that adorable little, beloved guy with his knitted pants!

And this is a sibling to the bear in my bed, Jakob. His body is flat, so that the pajamas can be kept there. And yes, the bear has eyes, but they are hard to see.

I own a doll with the same mold, just a bit bigger. It is a Schildkröt doll, named Schlummerle. She has sleepy eyes.

Inkeri and Sirpa had a close look at the other old dolls, made from biscuit porcelain or celluloide.

Upstairs in that house there are lots of old toys for boys (seen here behind the girls), such as race courses and other mechanical toys.

The girls had to play with dollhouses of every kind. The shoe shop was very interesting, but we didn't see shoes that could have fit Littlefees.

Sirpa would have loved to play in this dollhouse. She said the dolls were just the right size for her, and she would be right. But the dolls are very old and delicate, so they are better kept behind the glass.

We had a late breakfast then. The sun was still fighting through the high fog, but it was already getting warmer.

"Where do we go next? And will we see some farm animals?"

"Oh yes, that would be fun!"

"Let's go!"
And on we went. There are some old handcrafts to be seen as well. In the house with the toys there is normally a wood turner, but he hadn't started yet.

In this house there is a basket maker. They produce baskets of all sorts and even brooms. Even tiny, tiny brooms made from goats hair. They are meant for keyboards. I bought one last year and this year my daughter got one. The girls got a basket for them to be carried around. Much easier than holding them in my arm all the time.

And its much more fun to have look at the world.

Animals were there, too. Hens and roasters, and donkeys. It's still too cool for the pigs, I think.

And peacocks and kittens.

The hens were eagerly searching for their meal.

The living in the old days was not as comfortable as it is today, even if the houses itself look better as some do nowadays. It was cramped, three generations living under one roof, together with cows, horses and hens.

When the fire is not lit in the kitchen, the houses are quite cold. Inkeri and Sirpa were shivering.

"Mom, it's so cold here, don't they have a heating?" No, dear, in the old days the fire in the hearth was the main and often the only heating they had.

"Can you go outside, please? It's much warmer there."

So they climbed back into their basket and we went outside where the sun had made it through the clouds. It was much warmer there indeed.

This is a white wagtail, but we even saw the first swallows. And even if one of them doesn't make a summer, they do make a spring. But they are so fast they I couldn't get them on a pic.

At the pottery Malin bought me a present for Mother's Day and Inkeri and Sirpa tried to see what it was. They didn't tell me if they could see anything...

We then had lunch break at the village fair. The chairoplane was not up again, but the old carrousel was. Malin had two rides on it all alone. Inkeri was fascinated. That was something she wanted to do!

"That is fun! We want more!" As it is free, we had a second ride, of course. Malin loved riding the old horses.

We had a brief look at the old organ, but as there only one assistant and he had to look after the carrousel, so no music for us.
We went on to houses from the northern part of Schleswig-Holstein.