Four Gun Salute Going To The Office

The Open State Foundation has its office on the old naval yard in the heart of Amsterdam. Right next to the national maritime museum, in the 17th century warehouse of the Dutch admirality, and across from the 1960’s former Base Commander’s home our (as I’m a board member there) offices are surrounded by other small organisations, start-ups, assorted innovative efforts, a tech academy, a hostel and a microbrewery. Normally it is easy to forget that the area is also still in active use by the Dutch Navy, for which parts of it are unobtrusively shut off to the public. During summer people swim in the former harbour basin, there’s a sauna lodge at its edge, and floating gardens, just steps from surveilled fences. This morning it was very obvious that this is still an active navy compound. Four artillery pieces were shooting across the harbour basin, right as I traversed the pontoons across it with my bike to reach the Open State’s offices. Despite the serious looking military police…