Pride Amsterdam

Two weekends ago, I had the best people watching weekend I've ever had!  Each year, Pride - Amsterdam is one of the biggest parades in the world, all held on the water.  The floats were amazing, the people watching was even better and add a Heineken to the mix and life is good.

I was totally soaked when it was over - got caught in a huge thunderstorm in the middle of Amsterdam.  Rain in the Netherlands is cold!

I got there a little late, but got very lucky when two people in front of me to watch left and I got a front row standing spot.  The crowd was at least 6 people deep in most spots along the canals, plus people in party boats along the edges.  The pictures below don't really do it justice - at least 4 of the 5 senses were buzzing all the time.


Colorful float recognizing the plight of people in the Middle East, Uganda, etc who can face the death penalty or jail:

These boats probably held 100 people each.  They were huge floats:

The US boat; Liberty and Justice for all:

 

 

This guy below did his own little boat, covered in flowers (very Dutch):



 

 

 

Post NL boat (postal service):

 



PwC, Shell, IBM amongst others boat:

 



 Police boat:

 

 

 

Sports boat (I feel like I'm naming spice girls here):



 

 

 Working at the carwash boat (not to be confused with the It's raining men boats):

 

 

Army boat:

 

 

 

Massive amounts of confetti in the air, on the streets and in the canals: