Reasons:
1) A while back I saw this big book about the 1665
Zeven Provinciën, the flagship of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter. It was quite big to take along so decided not to buy it. I regretted it and when I was at the store about 2 weeks later, it was gone. Talking with Bruce about it yesterday, I decided to take a look at the store's website and saw that some of the other stores had it and the result of today's hunt is...
... it was just waiting for me there behind glass but at the same time, but it did not want to leave because the store alarm kept on going off despite the saleslady moving it over the magnet numerous times.
It wasn't cheap though (down from 199 Euros, it was 120 Euros, ~ 159 USD, 162 CAD) and it feels like it weighs a ton.
2) Just in case they did not have the book in Haarlem, I had already decided before I departed this morning to buy a return ticket to Amsterdam (they had a cheaper normal hardcover version of the book there according to the site, but I really wanted the one I got now with the blueprints). Since I had the book, I made use of the ticket to go to the Maritime Museum there which was quite a nice musuem.
3) At the end of the Week, on Friday and Saturday, I'll be going to the Air Force Days. Some nice stuff supposed to come and looking at the weather (if I must believe that stuff) it should be dry those days (overall in the Netherlands it is 40% chance of rain on Friday and 80% chance on Saturday, but for Volkel it is indicated that it is 30% for Friday and 6% on Saturday).
4) Next week is the week of the Paris Airshow. I will be there as well at the end of the week when it is open to the public. That looks to be interesting as well. I will be in Paris from the 15th until the 25th.
5) At the beginning of next month, I will be going to Paris
again. This time for the Japan Expo/Comic-con as well as Bastille Day. Leaving on July 3, I will return on July 15. Last year, it was neat to see the planes fly past in preparation of the Aerial part of the Military Parade so this time I hope to see it all.
All in all, lots of opportunities to take lots of photos these coming weeks.