Sinterklaas arrived in Leuven
Kabouter had been asking the last weeks: when was Sinterklaas coming. The silly tv announcements on his arrival didn't help. "I've heard his boat is really not far anymore. He might come to Belgium this weekend if the waves aren't too high" "Where is his boat?" "A few days on the sea away from Belgium, I don't know exactly but apparently it's not that far anymore."
I knew bloody well at what time exactly Sinterklaas would arrive. He'd arrive on Saturday at 13.30 magically in a few dozen Belgian cities at the same time while there would also be a live broadcast from his official arrival in Antwerp on tv all afternoon. So I had arranged to be by coincidence in the city center of Leuven. If they couldn't see the live broadcast on tv, they couldn't notice the parallell timing of events.
We were still all getting our hair cut (all 4 of us on the same day, a unique family event ;) ) when all of a sudden the marching band approached. I was surprised by their itinerary but hushed the children outside to go and have a look what was happening. "Oh wow, look who's there, look look, can you see it who arrived???" My fake surprise rocked ;).
After the last of us was done at the hairdressers, we quickly left to "search" Sinterklaas again at the city hall where we expected him to speech and his Piet's to dance...but the square was empty. Thank goodness for mobile internet that gave us the itinerary of the parade which was just looping around some nearby blocks. With some smart walking we saw the Holy Man coming by 3 more times , twice riding his white horse and finally transferring to his carriage again, before we figured it was time to go home. While dressed up as Zwarte Piet, we got inspired to start writing our wishlist letters to the Sint. ... 3 more weeks now!
When comparing with last year's pictures, I notice that we've all cleaned our chimneys a lot better this year, which is a good thing.
I knew bloody well at what time exactly Sinterklaas would arrive. He'd arrive on Saturday at 13.30 magically in a few dozen Belgian cities at the same time while there would also be a live broadcast from his official arrival in Antwerp on tv all afternoon. So I had arranged to be by coincidence in the city center of Leuven. If they couldn't see the live broadcast on tv, they couldn't notice the parallell timing of events.
We were still all getting our hair cut (all 4 of us on the same day, a unique family event ;) ) when all of a sudden the marching band approached. I was surprised by their itinerary but hushed the children outside to go and have a look what was happening. "Oh wow, look who's there, look look, can you see it who arrived???" My fake surprise rocked ;).
After the last of us was done at the hairdressers, we quickly left to "search" Sinterklaas again at the city hall where we expected him to speech and his Piet's to dance...but the square was empty. Thank goodness for mobile internet that gave us the itinerary of the parade which was just looping around some nearby blocks. With some smart walking we saw the Holy Man coming by 3 more times , twice riding his white horse and finally transferring to his carriage again, before we figured it was time to go home. While dressed up as Zwarte Piet, we got inspired to start writing our wishlist letters to the Sint. ... 3 more weeks now!
When comparing with last year's pictures, I notice that we've all cleaned our chimneys a lot better this year, which is a good thing.
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