Sinterklaas arrives in Haarlem

Today Sinterklaas made his entry into Haarlem and we went along to see it. He also arrived in other Dutch towns and cities, for example Amsterdam. Obviously it's not the same Sinterklaas who arrives in every place, it's just many different actors of course. God may be omnipresent but I don't really think Sinterklaas is.

He was due to arrive on his steamboat from Spain at 1pm on the river Spaarne, which runs through the centre of Haarlem. By the time we arrived there at around 12:45pm the banks of the river were already very crowded. We made our way past a band made up of Zwarte Pieten who were playing a selection of traditional Sinterklaas songs and found a free place at the river's edge, close to the famous 700 year-old white lift-bridge, the Gravestenenbrug, one of many bridges that span the river Spaarne in Haarlem. There were also many people spread along this bridge but they would surely have to move once Sinterklaas' steamboat came up the river and the bridge opened to let it through.

A number of small pleasure boats made their way up and down the river and dark clouds began to form up in the sky but luckily the weather held. Next to us were a couple of French tourists, clutching their Amsterdam guide book. I wondered if it explained exactly what was going on. I guess not as they looked rather perplexed at the goings-on.

Eventually a cry went up that the steamboat was approaching and the bridge further down the river slowly opened. A few minutes later it was possible to get the first glimpse of the large "Pakjesboot" making its way up the river along with the many colourful small pleasure boats following behind it. As the boat came close we could hear the band playing the song "O Kom er Eens Kijken" (roughly "Oh, Come and See", in the left video on the below) with the dozens of Zwarte Pieten on the boat swaying in time to the music. As the boat came alongside us the tune changed to another song "Hoor de wind waait door de bomen" ("Hear the Wind Blowing through the Trees", in the right video below) and we could finally get a clear view of Sinterklaas himself, standing proud on the brow of his fine ship, surrounded by his many, colourful helpers.

The Gravestenenbrug was finally cleared of outlookers and soon that too opened to let the Pakjesboot journey further up the River Spaarne to its final destination close to the large Police headquarters on Koudenhorn. After the boat had passed we decided to leave our viewing point and follow it up the river. But unfortunately the majority of the other onlookers choose the same option and it became very crowded once we neared Koudenhorn and it was very difficult to catch a glimpse of Sinterklaas when he disembarked and climbed onto his beautiful white horse Amerigo for the ride through the streets of Haarlem to the main square, the Grote Markt where he would be received by the mayor of Haarlem Bernt Scheiders.
However, by then the excitement of the day had finally caught up with Matthew and he was fast asleep in his pram and so we left for home.