The Polo Mint Adventures Part 3 -- loosing the Polos but finding a real hippy and some Chinese warriors

[Valentine Mark Herman]

Bonjour!

This is the third and last episode -- for now -- about my Museum adventures with Polo Mints in the Netherlands.

Just in case you have forgotten what a Polo Mint looks like, here is one:

This episode invovles visits to two Museums -- the Limburgs Museum in Venlo and the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden.

First to Venlo, by train, on a wet and windy day to see the 'Flower Power' exhibition.

I hate to say it, but this was one of the worst exhibitions that i have ever been to. It was not about Flower power and the social, political, sexual, economic, revolutionary, etc effects of those heady, hippy years. Rather it was 10% about radicalism in Amsterdam (and it's free white bikes) -- which was at the center of it all, along with Berlin, Paris and London -- and 90% about the late 60's/early 70's in rural Holland.

I only have two photos of the exhibition that I would like to share with you:

Believe me, they were the best of a bad lot.

"BUT WHERE IS THE POLO MINT?" I hear you ask (well, I imagine you asking).

Er, this is rather embarassing. The Polo Mint was in my anorak pocket, and my anorak was in a cloakroom locker, and I lost the key to the locker, and it took some time for me to get the locker opened, and by that time I had had enough and decided to go back to Maastricht.

I'm sure that you can imagine the Polo Mints added to the photos.

Two days later there was a free Concert in the Park in Maastricht, and I met an incredible hippy lady there. Here she is , whirling her hoola hoop about (look away, Dean) but not with a Polo Mint anywhere near her:

I currently have a thing about tattooed women (purely artistic, I hasten to add), and asked this lady if I could take a picture of her back. "Shall I take my top off?", she asked. "If you like", I replied. She didn't (sorry Dean), and so this is the photo -- again without Polo Mint -- of (some of) her tattoos:

 

And now it's time to get back to Polo Mints, and so we go North to the National Ethnographic Museum in Leiden.
Security here was very strict, and I only managed to get a few Polo Miny shots. Here are a couple where some ancient  Chinese warriors get their first taste of a Polo Mint:

 

And then, to finish with, two of African and Chinese statues, with Polo Mints:

I didn't enjoy this Museum. The only part I really wanted to see -- the Oceania section -- was the only part of the Museum that was closed: just my luck (or lack of it).

That's all folks. No more Polo Mint Adventures for now.

Au revoir, Val

[Valentine Mark Herman]

Dean...STOP!

Vizma said she had a 'delicate and sensitive nature, and your third swimming fin comment will only lead to questions about on which appendage of your body you will put it.

Please, please do NOT tell her.

(Of course, the rest of us would like to see the relevant photos though)

[Dean aka Artist in Seine]

Smart thinking young lady.  Wait until you get that third swimming fin !

[vizma bruns]

I was going to ask Dean the same thing but his response may have involved bananas. Because of my delicate and sensitive nature I thought better of it.

[Valentine Mark Herman]

Great Dean! I was going to ask how far down your body that incredible Polo camouflage went, but I won't as it will only encourage you to post some revealing photos that would shock those of a delicate sensitivity. Had you used fruit Polos they would probably have stuck to your face and been difficult to remove.

Alas, DVS, no more Polo Adventures for the immediate future...unless I can find another museum/gallery to honour (sic) with my work.

[De Villo Sloan]

More episodes please, Val! Your Polo Mints are a species of Holism:

[Dean aka Artist in Seine]

OH I had a very strange dream last night, and neither Charlotte or the tattoo lady was in it.

[Dean aka Artist in Seine]

Well everything that starts well, ends well. Time for bed.