Vaardagen

It’s funny how you can live somewhere for so long and still continue to discover so many new things. It’s been more than three years now and we had never even heard of Haarlem vaardagen – boating days, a festival in town that we stumbled across this weekend. Apparently it is held every year and wreaks havoc on the local traffic situation because of all the sailboats coming through the draw bridges. Add in the Jopenfeest, (beer festival), Open Monument days and more than 150,000 visitors and it was another jammed weekend of activities.

Sometimes we forget how cool this town is that we now call home – Haarlem.

The Spaarne river crowded with boats. Usually a busy local shipping route, now there is no way to get goods up and down the waterway with the boats stacked 4 and 5 deep along the bulkheads.

The boating lifestyle. I would like to rent a boat one of these days and do some touring around Holland. There is so much water and so many possibilities that it boggles the mind.

More boats…more parties.

Something for the kiddies. This old ferry was converted to a floating stage where performers entertained the kids.

We toured one of these 1930’s barges that had been converted to a floating house. It was fantastic inside! Hardwood floors, fireplace, TV/Computer room, gourmet kitchen, big bedroom, and skylights.

There was plenty to do on the land as well. All of the historic buildings in Haarlem were open and free to go through all weekend.

Brooding sky over crowded streets. But the rain held off and we even caught a bit of sun later in the day on the terrace of a local café.

This should be a familiar sight for everyone by now – the Grote Markt, Haarlem. We took this picture from the steps of city hall, one of the oldest buildings in all of The Netherlands. It was open for monument days so we got to check out the mayor's office....this was basically his view.