Carnival

It’s been a slow week or so since Queensday. It seems like everyone drank a bit too much over that 4-day celebration and are now enjoying some much needed down time. Most of the schools have been closed on spring holiday for the past two weeks as well.

So the main excitement is the Kermis (Carnival). It has been running for 3 weeks at 3 different locations in Haarlem. The largest setup was in Zannenpark, which if you don’t know is our neighborhood park where we go each evening to meet our (and Sage’s) friends. While the Kermis is not actually set up IN the park, it completely surrounds it and has shut down several of our local streets. The only ride that was put up in the park was a pretty cool looking little rollercoaster. The one running it this year is a pretty good outfit. They must have had 25-30 rides, all the required junk food booths, 2 gambling halls (yes, gambling halls for the kiddies), and pony rides.

Of course the pony rides in the park are what caused us the most grief. Sage was very “curious” with these little critters and caused the handlers a bit too much concern. Add in the discarded junk food from the fair and the park has been off limits for the past two weeks.

Just yesterday they shut everything down and cleaned up the park. Amazing what these carnies can do in 24 hours. I guess when you do it 10-15 times a year or more you get pretty good at it.

Rosie gets back from Spain this weekend, so we’re really looking forward to some long evenings in the park again.

Hope all is well in your world!