clog blog: Summer Carnival!

Sunday, 31 July 2011

Summer Carnival!

This weekend was Summer Carnival time!

Similar to Rio, Rotterdam hosts a Summer Carnival each year. The festivities started last week Friday with the election of the Carnival Queen and continued this week with the Battle of The Drums on Friday, the parade on Saturday and ended with partying into the night on the Coolsingel in the city centre.

The Battle of the Drums is a brass band contest to determine which band will win the Golden Drum and be the ‘best brass band of the Summer Carnival 2011’. We headed into town to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the festivities! Four brass bands start at different locations and all end up at the main arena on the Coolsingel to battle it out for the title. We arrived as the first band took to the stage and saw the other three bands arrive. We watched the first two battle it out and then called it a night, lol. It was very vibey at the Coolsingel and you could sample cuisine from different countries participating. Fortunately the weather held and there were only a few drops of drizzle =)

The parade started on Saturday afternoon and did a circular route of the city. Bron headed out to see the action after a great skype chat with the family! I arrived a bit late but still saw most of the parade. I started at an intersection close to our house where I was for about an hour and then moved on to the city centre where the parade hadn’t even started passing yet so I was able to see the first groups that I had missed earlier. Even though the length of the parade was lined with people about 4 deep, I was expecting more people, at no point did I feel over-crowded. I think there were more people at Pinkpop, lol. There was a cool vibe and atmosphere in the city but it also felt a bit flat, I was expecting a much bigger vibe. This may be due to the fact that it was drizzling on and off all day and may have put a dampener on things.

But the weather did not put the paraders off! They were still wearing their skimpy colourful outfits as planned. There really were some imaginative costumes and themes! We managed to snap some pics but getting good photo’s was quite difficult due to the crowds and the distance between us and the parades. We enjoyed the Carnival but if you are looking for some colourful fun, you don’t have to go as far as Rotterdam or Rio. I would say the Tweede Nuwe Jaar festivities held in Cape Town on the 2nd of January every year is just as, if not more, festive and enjoyable =)

Justin missed the parade on Saturday because he was playing cricket. But they won, yay! Justin had really tidy figures at 1 for 13 after 8 overs including 4 maiden overs. Well done! =) But he didn’t have an opportunity to bat.

Tomorrow Bron’s sister Michelle arrives for a week-long stay, yay! Graham joins us on Saturday for a few days and they return to London together on Tuesday evening. Looking forward to hanging out and exploring together! Bring your rain coats! =)

Hope you are well and had a good weekend!