A Dutch-Angled Quiz

Answer: The only shot that was fired hit a soup kettle

"The Kettle War" was fought between the Netherlands and the Holy Roman Empire. The battle was fought at sea, and as it happens, the only "casualty" was a soup kettle. Four warships faced off on the Scheldt River, and a Netherlands ship took aim with its gun and fired only one shot which hit a soup kettle. The opposing sailors surrendered without another shot being fired.

Answer: Fish

The company called Studio Diip, based in the Netherlands, performed the miracle--that no one had wished for--and they imbued fish with the ability to drive their fish tanks around simply by looking in a certain direction. The vehicles kind of look like supermarket shopping carts with the fish tank in the cart part. Called "The Fish on Wheels" project, they used computer vision technology to actually steer the cars in whichever direction the fish were looking. The "car" runs on batteries.

Answer: Rabbits

It was a language mistake to be honest, so we can at least credit him for not being insane. The younger brother of Napoleon took over the country in 1806 and declared in Dutch "I am the rabbit of Holland" when what he meant to say was simply "king" which should have been pronounced "koning." But instead he mispronounced it saying instead "konjin" which means "rabbit." All was forgiven though as he was known to be a good king to his subjects, even earning the epithet, "Louis the Good."

Answer: To lead squirrels across a busy highway

The bridge was built between Haagse Bos Forest and Oosterbeek Park (Aha, forest? Park? I see what's happening here) and its purpose was to provide squirrels a safe way of scurrying across a busy highway between those two locales. Did it work? Not really. The squirrels stuck to their tried and in many cases not so true routes. I don't know who counted, but it was stated that only three squirrels used the bridge in 2014, and then only two in 2015.

Answer: 100,000 tulips

After Canada had helped liberate the Netherlands in World War II, Princess Juliana bestowed Canada, with the gift that keeps on giving, 100,000 tulip bulbs, and the country continues to give Canada 10,000 tulips every year in gratitude. Several Dutch royal family members had fled the country when Germany invaded the Netherlands.

When they returned to their homeland they started this tradition.

Answer: Rats

In Rotterdam of the Netherlands, an elite squad of sewer rats, and we're talking actual rats here, not human movie gangster "you dirty rat" types, but no it's an actual group of rats that are used because of their sense of smell. Starting in 2013, the rats have been used to pinpoint illegal contraband using their olfactory expertise.

They are said to have 95% accuracy, and can do it amazingly quickly--in about two seconds.

Answer: books

The Boekenweek festival is an annual "Book Week" festival in the Netherlands, and the Dutch rail company Nederlandse Spoorwegen will offer free boarding if you show up with just a book. But just on that one day. And not just any book. Each year, a famous Dutch author is commissioned to write the "book week gift" called the Boekenweekgeschenk, which is given away in book shops to anyone who buys a book. That free book (well not so free if you have to buy a book to get it) is then used by the patron as a boarding pass.

Answer: eat it

The andijvie stamppot is a traditional Dutch meal popular in the winter. A medium sized pot of salted water is brought to boil and 1 1/2 pounds of peeled potatos cut up into eve-sized pieces are added to the water and cooked for 20 minutes. A pound of trimmed endive (or kale) cut into thin strips is then mashed up into the hot potatoes that you've removed and dried. You mash up the mixture with a fork. Add a small sauce pan of warmed milk (1 1/2 tbsp) to the mixture, along with some butter, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Finally you cut up 2 smoked sausages and place them atop the potatoes.

Answer: a mountaintop

A literal mountaintop is in the collection of the Teylers Museum, the only museum known to feature such an item on display. In 1787 Horace Benedict de Saussure became the second person to climb up Mount Blanc, Western Europe's tallest mountain. When he reached the summit, he cut off the top, and transported it back down with him. It is now on show at the museum in the Oval Room.

Answer: 16th century

Tulips were introduced to the country in 1593, and demand for them was immediate. By 1623, the country reached the height of the era called "tulip mania." One single tulip bulb could cost the same as the average person's yearly income. To this very day though, the Netherlands love for the flower remains unabated: they still produce more tulips than any other country, over two billion tulips a year.