Well, the Henry Hudson NY 400 Week (yesterday through the 13th) is underway. Dutch royalty arrived yesterday morning to help celebrate. In fact, the coolest stuff I’ve seen about the celebration all seems to be coming from Holland — the orange bike-share bikes, the faux-historical boats all over the harbor. Plus — Dutch artists invade Governors Island this weekend.

Giving it back to the Indians is one option, of course, but every time I see these orange bikes around town I’d just as soon give it back to the Dutch.

Brooks over at Lost City has some details on flat-bottomed boating action this weekend:

A fine event is set to occur this coming Sunday, Sept. 13, near the
Atlantic Basin in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The Flat Bottoms, a fleet of
historic Dutch vessels, some more than 100 years old, will enter
Atlantic Basin, dock and raise their ceremonial flags. The Flat Bottoms
were shipped across the ocean on a freighter. The fleet will also
include some modern recreations of historic vessels and the whimsical
Musikboot.

PortSide NewYork was instrumental in getting the Dutch Flat Bottomed Fleet berthed in Atlantic Basin during their stay in the NYC area.

The
event will take place on the south end of Pier 11, Atlantic Basin,
Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Enter by foot or bike at Pioneer and Conover
Streets or by car at Bowne and Imlay Streets. The event sponsored by
NYC EDC and PortSide NewYork.

I was out on the Seaport Museum’s schooner, The Pioneer, last weekend, and saw a bunch of Dutch boats with brown sails. The picture on ny400 (below) shows more traditional colors. Maybe there’s more than one batch of imported Dutch boats in the harbor for the big celebrations this week.

For more celebration events, check out the official calendar at ny400.org.