Last weekend we went to the spring flower parade here in The Netherlands-The Bloemencorso. Think of the Rose Parade in which the floats are turned into designs comprised of flowers. Now shrink the floats down in your mind in terms of scale, types of flowers (I think they only use local flowers, no imports) and detail, but lengthen the parade route so that it takes 6+ hours and winds through numerous cities. Voila-The Bloemencorso! While it wasn’t quite up to Rose Parade standards, it was fun to go and watch in person. The floats smelled great, we got to hear some fun bands and it didn’t take too long (about an hour) for it to go by our viewing spot in Noordwijk, a cute sea town.
Actually, the thing that struck us the most about the parade was the lack of crowd control. Don’t get me wrong, there were police and parade escorts but they just didn’t do much to keep the crowds off the parade route. People continuously migrated further off the sidewalks and into the street, often walking or standing right in front of a float as it came down the route. No one seemed concerned about it at all. But unlike the Rose Parade, it was also very easy to park close, walk up to and leave the parade and we didn’t need to show up more than 30 minutes or so in advance to get a good viewing spot.
Apparently, there is another parade in the late summer which features summer rather than spring flowers so we might check it out. Also, just like the Rose Parade, they park the floats in a lot the day before or the night after, so that you can get an up-close look. That might be fun for a future parade as well. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy some of these pictures of the parade.
My So Called Dutch Life 
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