Venlo - Faces of Carnaval

Most of the castle kids have decided to stay in Well this weekend for Carnaval, a huge Dutch holiday. On Friday Jeannie and I biked 24 km (about 15 miles) to Venlo and then stopped at the Thermal Baths in Arcen on the way back, which was absolutely magical and relatively cheap as well! Plus it helped cure our sore muscles from biking so far. 

But Saturday was when the real party started. We decided to take the bus this time, but again traveled to Venlo this time for the celebrations! There were six of us that went and we all got dressed up in the Carnaval colors: green, yellow, and red (or at least attempted and dressed as brightly as possible) and then set off. 

The whole town was decked out for the day. Banners hung from every building, the streets were filled with people, and everyone was dressed up for the occasion. The crowds of people were hard to navigate through, sometimes the crowd was so large that we were stuck in one place unable to move in any direction for several minutes. Luckily we had a pretty small group so no one got lost or separated.

Most of the dutch were eager to have their pictures taken because they were so excited to show off their costumes. These two guys pulled me aside when they saw my camera and asked me to take a picture. 

The costumes made it feel like it was like Halloween all day and the Dutch pulled out all the stops. They covered themselves in full body make-up, feathers, fur, and full body suits. 

After an intense day, we piled back on the bus and headed back to Well, six very tired girls. After a short nap we went to some of the local festivities and then climbed in bed to rest up before the parade in town the next day.