Flowers on Parade

Last Saturday was the Dutch equivalent of the Rose Bowl Parade...
Except instead of roses, it was tulips
And it wasn't New Years
And there was no subsequent football game that followed
And it wasn't that large of a crowd
And you didn't have to sleep outside in the freezing cold in order to get good seats

Ok, so maybe it would have been easier to say "yesterday, a parade of flower floats drove through Noordwijk"
But that doesn't make it sound nearly as interesting.

Suzan, Fien, Oma Ria, cousin Quentin, and I all went over in the morning and got ready to see the floats.  I was super excited because I've never been to the Rose Bowl parade, although the Yacht club and I keep making plans to do so.
Anyway, all the local bands...

Dance teams...

And bike (and by bikes I mean...bikes) gangs...

Were out to ride in between the floats.  And all of them were doing very very well!  Of course Fiens ears had to be covered the whole time the drums were passing.  But she still enjoyed it.
And then there were the floats.  All themed with different people riding on them.  All magnificent...

And since I had my dad's good camera, I was able to do some closeups...

And I couldn't help but shoot a couple candid shots of the youngens...

Man they're adorable.

Anyway, it was a wonderful morning.  And the entire street smelled amazing!!! The flowers are continuing all along the coast line advirtising the Keukenhoff - a large flower festival (which I'm attending tomorrow!)  So make sure to keep your eyes peeled for that bundle of pics!

See you tomorrow!!

Word of the day: bloemencorso - flower parade/procession