WNT European Invasion: Who is Sinterklaas and where is he from?

On Saturday 18 November, Sinterklaas came to the town of Cothen. Danielle and I chased the parade announcing his arrival around the block, only to end up almost back at her house.

Elly has 2 daughters who marched in the parade twirling shiny batons.

I was excited because the children waiting on the sides of the road were all very excited! Sinterklaas finally arrived in his Sinterklaas mobile with his helpers called Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) throwing out these little spiced bread things (pepernoten) to the children. Okay, so here's where the Sinterklaas story differs from our Santa Claus story. Sinterklaas lives forever (same) and resides in Spain (different). Every year he travels by steamer to a town in the Netherlands, then procedes to visit every town bringing gifts to children(same). And apparently the Spaniards don't believe in Sinterklaas even though he lives amongst them (their loss). And instead of elves for helpers, Sinterklaas ha

s many Zwarte Piets who have black faces and hands because (political correctness ruled here) they're the ones who go down the chimney to place the gifts in the children's shoes. But only after the children sing a song about Sinterklaas. Either way, it's a fun time to give gifts and act a little silly.

Later on that night, the team took me to Amsterdam for a little team bonding. DJ and I took the bus from Cothen to Uretcht where Anne picked us up and drove to Amsterdam. We met up with the rest of the team at one of their friend's apartment. Definitely some fun time had by all! I got the tour of Amsterdam by night and so far it looks like a beautiful city. Before I leave, I'm going to try to see it by day.

And below are the pictures I promised. :) Enjoy!