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3 Oct 2007

More from the 'Leids Ontzet'







3rd of October is 'Hutspot' time! A real Dutch experience in Leiden

Tasting a real Dutch dish



Video in 'driver' perspective of the bumper car in Leiden



No Limit


Harm's birthday party!








Leids Ontzet

Today is the famous festival 'Leids Ontzet', the historical anniversary of the end of Leiden's siege by the Spaniards in 1575.
The 'onzet' is the greatest party in town and the 3rd of October is even a holiday only celebrated in Leiden. That means that most stores and all public institutions stay closed during the 3rd of October, no matter what day of the week it is. The celebrations started yesterday and the whole city got transformed into an amusement park, with a lot of stalls selling food, sweets and other things, whether needed or not by human kind.
As you can expect it from a festival in Europe, also a lot of alcohol is being consumed all around and, as you can expect from a Dutch festival, the smell of wheat is also noticeable wherever you go.
I tried the most challenging fairground ride with three other friends, as you can see further down in one of the videos. For the ridiculous price of 8 Euro per ride you actually do get a quite exciting ride, going 360 degrees and a massive speed.
Check out below for pics and videos: