A herring vendor on North Sea Beach

And now for something completely different — this week I have some images scanned from one of my vintage Viewmaster reels. I fell in love with the Viewmaster as a young child after discovering it on my Grandma’s toy shelf. In fact, I held onto that same 1950s-era device; and when I realized that it was possible to buy vintage reels on eBay, I wasted no time in adding to my collection. I realized the other day that sitting in front of a window gazing at the 3D photos of places around the world helps calm some of my anxieties over current events.

Unfortunately, the quality of my images here isn’t great, and of course I’m unable to reproduce the wonderful 3D effect. I also can’t tell you when these photographs were taken; but I think it’s sort of fun to examine the pictures and try to make a guess. I’ve included the captions provided on the reel.

Tulip field, Leiden

Concert hall, Scheveningen

Peace Palace, The Hague

The pottery portrait becomed “Delft” blue when fired

“Model town” of Madurodam; 1/25th actual size

Cycling on Delft’s 17th century stone streets