twee

On Saturday, we went to the Scheepvaart Museum (which the English brochures call the Maritime Museum). Probably one of my favorite things in the museum was in the (17th century Dutch Admiral) Michiel de Ruyter exhibit: Nazi propaganda posters capitalizing on a centuries-old rivalry with England. Actually, most of the de Ruyter exhibit itself capitalized on a centuries-old rivalry with England, which was also pretty hilarious, but I didn't take pictures of any of those examples.

I did take a picture of this little boat. This is just the stern; the bow has some big cherubs. And a seal with some French written on it (not the Dutch royal crest, which has a lion and hopefully no French). Anyway, it's a boat that belongs to the Dutch royal family and is on loan to the museum. The things sticking up along the middle are oars; there's a little curtained sitting area at the far end (i.e., the bow) where the passengers sit. The best thing about this boat is that it was last used in the 1960's, for a trip with the queen up and down the Amstel River (which is immediately adjacent to our new apartment). Casey and I were imagining sitting out on our balcony and watching THIS float by. I wonder whether I'd scream like I did when I was surprised by the Christmas El train going by my window in Chicago. Probably not, because I bet there would be crowds of people watching, which I'd be able to see from my balcony, thus alerting me to the imminent appearance of the boat. Which brings me to another photo they had in this exhibit: one of all the military rowers on a reconnaissance trip in the boat the day before. They actually called it that!

So I guess my point for today is, I live in a country with royalty. Weird!