Pictures from the Netherlands

Pictures from our trip to the the Netherlands, 23rd July to 4th August, 2009.

Also see pictures from the Netherlands 2004, 2006 and 2007 and pictures from the Helsinki pride 2007 and 2008.

Amsterdam Pride

First, the drag queen olympics, which had participants from a dozen different countries from India to Aruba.

The delightful and incredibly photogenic hostess (whose name we unfortunately can't remember)
Someone talking with Fabiola (notice the platform shoes)
Girl talk
Bunny with some leather
The olympic flame arrived spectacularly (only to be snuffed out minutes later, ha)
It might be wrong, but this picture makes me think of Celine Dion
More of the dramatic singing performance
The hostess cuts the ribbon (with the help of her "twin daughters")
Glam girls drink Heineken
The hostess with another dazzling lady (bonus points if you notice what's very weird about this photo, technically)
Not sure which I like more, the dress or the bag
Nice legs!
India's Tiger Lilly was super cute
Dash's costume had somewhat of a fishy theme
A curly member of the audience
Drag queen olympics are fun for the whole family
A graceful throw in the handbag throwing contest
Best contestant name: Lika Virgin
More handbag throwing
...and some more
...and one more girly fling
Happy audience member who caught one of the bags
With a pink thong you're at least a moral winner
Windy Mills throws with careful contemplation

Then the actual canal parade.

Line dancing! (first time we saw such a thing)
The people on this boat had interesting wigs
Excessive consumption of Heineken can lead to falling into a canal
Boats hanging out at Amstel
The name "Naomi" is just so fitting for their boat, isn't it?
More spectators (later you could see the firemen watching the parade from the top of that fire engine)
Nice pink costume
Uncle Sam wants you for queerhood!
Some hetero action (eek!)
This singer seemed to have a very clear idea of her target audience
Pink is the color of the day
This costume was more reminiscent of samba carnivals
More samba girls
Need more hairspray?
Who wouldn't want a holiday picture with the leather guys?
It supposedly means something like "wrong underwear"(?)
A young participant (must be the only time ever I've seen someone wear a lifejacket in Amsterdam...)
Gotta love that the pink parasol says "the fruitiest"
Even dogs were dressed in pink
Fake lashes were also very much in (the "XXX" is the "logo" of Amsterdam)
Yes, you are
Some adorable older guys (I believe they had something to do with the outdoor gay wedding)
Dutchify the world (Note: do visit the URL for some food for thought)
Pink hugs
The police wants to recruit you (seriously, who doesn't think this is awesome?)
So much in love (these guys might have been one of the newlywed couples?)
The Pope had strong presence at the parade
Braboot: De boot met de zachte Gay
500,000 spectators in a fairly small city makes for some crowds
Some more samba girls
This boat had live music
Flirty and proud (also: sleepy and proud)
Almost everyone on this boat was enthusiastic
People climbed everywhere to get a better view
This picture makes me think of Back to the Future and RHPS at the same time (which is, of course, awesome)
Something more serious for a change (yes, in many countries being gay can still put you to jail or even get you killed)
The crowd cheers
Loveland festival's boat had a message
The Loveland "mascot"
Another cute samba girl
This boat was pretty classy (note the elephant prow)
Robin Hoods had the most sixpacks (not talking about Heineken here)
Political parties also featured (D66) (they had signs with pictures of famous GLBT people, this one featured actress Marlene Dietrich)
Tinfoil hat!
These Latino hunks danced like there was no tomorrow
If your boat is called Benhoer, you need golden laurel wreaths
Can't decide which of these guys' expressions I like the best
Stylish, subtle makeup
Get out more (with inflatable animals?)
This dress was like the lovechild of a wedding cake and a Christmas tree
Poledancing
Gaystones
The holy boat ("ordinary extraordinary" - apparently buitengewoon also means "queer")
The queerness had this little girl mesmerized
More daring spectators

More photojournalism

A demonstration on the Dam square
More of the demonstration
Only a few hours later on Dam square MC Xander played a great gig (for a video of this guy's performance see here
A couple spontaneously hugs on MC Xander's gig
A boy splashing water on the roof terrace of Nemo
A gay marching band with some samba girls
Later they had lost the girls but still grooved on strong
A man reading in a park
A couple under a tree in Flevopark
Moving houses Dutch style looks pretty hardcore!
An Indian family eating at Nieuwmarkt
These parents wanted their girl to climb trees (she was bawling her eyes out)
Playing with pigeons is a common activity on the Dam square
...If you do too much of it, you start looking like one of the pigeons

Animals

A ugly chickling at the backyard of the Amstelveen fire brigade
A black swan in the same place
A stork in Vondelpark
Brown geese(?) eating
A white-ish goose
A black cat
An orange cat being absolutely adorable as only cats can
A golden retriever in one of the canal boats
A black geitje (Elsenhove, Amstelveen)
Maija with some geitjes
Some sheep or goats chilling out
The grass is always greener on the other side
Our favorite geitje, "Bambi"
These goats preferred it indoors
One of the smallest geitje
A human tried to feed his offspring to the goats (they refused it)
A skygoat
Human offspring petting a drop-eared geitje
Two friends of the skygoat
This hornet was absolutely huge (probably an Asian giant hornet)
A spotted pig
A piggy bank (about 10 meters from the pig)

Hortus Botanicus

Yellow flowers
Spiky palms
Desert plants
An aloe
A butterfly resting on the rocks
A bee on a yellow flower
The palm house
A mint bag growing mint, a bag of paprika chips growing paprika etc...
Bumble bees on a thistle
A spiky flower
A giant water lily
Bumble bee on a flower
The stunning red flowers of coral tree
Yellow skunk cabbage
Decaying leaves in a pond
A butterfly macro
Another butterfly
A tree trunk with amazing texture
A waterlily
Calopsis paniculata
Another tree with a fascinating texture
A palm cradling a dead leaf
A twirly plant
A butterfly on a flower

Other plant photos

A black flower
Cacti in the flower market
More cacti
A strawberry cactus
This is what happens if you don't clean your dreadlocks
Beautiful hortensia outside a houseboat
Pears at the Elsenhove farm
Roses in Vondelpark
A tree eaten by ...things
Waterlilies in Amstelveen

Street art

A nice, kind of surreal graffiti
A booth in Jordaan
Van Gogh inspired street art
More of the same building
A surreal mosaic
Surreal graffiti
"Live without dead time"
Stylish classical graffiti logos
A skatepark in Oosterpark
A jungle gym and some graffiti

Other pictures

An old barn in Amstelveen
A wide-angle view on the Bijenkorf shopping center
Lit bridges at twilight
A bascule bridge
Camera obscuralaan in Amstelveen (best street name ever)
A very colorful house
"Read the bible, the book for you"
Fabric shoppers at Lapjesmarkt
Bridal clothes? No, it's a children's clothing store
The Nemo science center
A funky jungle gym
The pride flag
Raspberries
Beautiful water scenery in Flevopark
The owner of this store couldn't quite figure out what he was selling...
There has to be one windmill, right?