Thursday, March 20, 2014

Openluchtmuseum, The Netherlands, Part IV

Our final stop at the Openluchtmuseum (see the previous stop here) was the massive platform windmill off in a field by itself.

Approaching the mill

The mill is six stories high. Inside is a helpful sign explaining the history and the details of the mill. Unfortunately, it's all in Dutch so I can't tell very much about the mill.

Architecture and history of the mill

We went inside and climbed up three stories to get to the platform level. On the way we saw several displays of the mill's mechanisms and production. Clearly it was used to grind grain into flour.

Gears to transfer the wind energy into grinding energy

Milling wheels

Sacks of grain ready to become flour

The view from the platform is quite nice. In a bow to American tastes, a fence keeps visitors from getting too close to the platform's edge!

View from the platform

The only thing scarier than climbing up the narrow staircases and ladders is climbing back down again. We made sure to go ahead of the children so if they fell, they would land on us rather than the wooden or stone floors. Luckily we had no accidents and made it safely out of the mill.

Our last, best view of the mill

We exited through the gift shop where we were tempted by wooden shoes and local beers but we resisted. The Openluchtmuseum is a great place to visit as long as the weather is nice and everyone has plenty of energy for walking and appreciating the many facets of Dutch life.

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