Carnival usually falls over our Crocus break when we are out of town so since we opted for a staycation, we took advantage and made the drive to Maastricht to check it out. On Monday they had the kids parade so that was our destination. My impression is that there is a lot more debauchery on the day of the main parade. We had time to walk into the city and have lunch before the event began. The atmosphere was very festive despite the off and on rain. We were really impressed with the costumes! We felt a bit silly in our basic Halloween garb. Not sure if we'll make it to the event again, but if we do, I'd spend a lot more time pulling together a professional costume to blend in better. The town shuts down for the 4 day festival so apart from the squares hosting events, the rest of the city was really quiet.
We enjoyed the parade and watching the costumes. The Dutch pop songs, not so much!
When the rain came down, umbrellas and ponchos came out and the parade carried on.
The kids had wet feet and wanted to go back to the hotel. I thought Pete and I might leave them at the hotel and come back into the city, but the rain was relentless and the idea of listening to Dutch music while standing in the rain did not appeal! We spent the night in the hotel, ordering in sushi and watching Olympics instead!
The following day, we stopped in Nijmegen, a town I'd known about long before we decided to move to the Netherlands. Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome (NBS) is a genetic disorder that I learned about in grad school, named for the town where the first cases were reported. It is apparently celebrated as the oldest city in the Netherlands, 2020 years old! It is along the Waal river and was a medeival trading post after being settled by the Romans. We did a little walking tour, some shopping and had lunch. Their Carnival celebratory tents and banners were still up, but the festivities were definitely winding down.
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| Rainbow over de Waal river |
