Paasve

We were invited to Schagen for the Paasve festival. This is a very localised celebration, a time whne the farmers auction off cows and show off their farm-wares. Its a sort of mini AnP show, but is also used as an excuse for drunken madness for the whole reigon.

Any excuse to drink! I took a day off work, as it was on a Wednesday during the day. We needed to collect our finalised Residents Permits (yes, we are 100% legal now, not temporary residents), so I used this as a 1/2 excuse.

I saw this sign on the way and had to take a picture.



If you don't find this funny you are mature. I'm not...

So we took a train north to Schagen. That is a hrd word to say - the ch and the g are both said like a loogie hoick. Something like sckkkkhaaaa-kkkkhen. It's very phlegm-y.



This is Robert, one of the Dutch we have talked about. He met us at the train station (not terribly sober) on the back of his brothers bike, and they guided us to a bread shop where his mate works.



We got given lots fo free food, including these baguettes. I joking suggested Robert should take them to the pub and try to swap them for drinks.



This is an awesome pose of Princess and Robert. The guy over Roberts shoulder is his brother - thats why they look alike!



Hmm, whats that coming out of his jacket?



The whole town was seething with drunken youth, and all the pubs had the drunken >18s ! It was truly messy, but very funny. It reminded me of Courtney Place after a rugby match.


We met up with Marloes (the other member of the Dutch) and her crew of friends. They had been drinking separately, and so we all kind of met in the afternoon, and most of us were drunk. By most I mean everyone but us :(



But no problem, we know how to fix that - Wheres the pub?



Before we headed in I took this photo. Schagen has a beautiful church in the center square. If this photo zoomed out you would see the youth pissing on the side of it... messy.



This is what it looked like when we left the pub. But I have skipped ahead - we headed in to this pub.



It was very packed and you couldn't move, everyone was pushing you around. At least everone was relaxed about the fact, you just had to put up with it. The weather meant that no one wanted to be outside, hence the pubs were MAD! We headed on in and claimed a spot.

It turns out that Robert accidentally found a way to get the ladies attention. It turns out that drunk chicks love a guy with baguettes stuffed in his jacket. It was hard work for him to keep them away, and even I got my jacket searched, in case I had any more snacks! Robert was very professional and didn't let the attention get the better of him.

We drank iced white wine (thats how it was served) and listened to Dutch pop music. Some was good, some was bad but it was cool to socialise with lots of Dutch people. All of Marloes friends also speak excellent English, and we all had a fun time. Eventually we stumbled out (took a picture of the spire) and headed to the takeaway shops.



This shop shows how ridiculously busy it was. we walked further away and still had to battle queues. Some chips and cheese toasties lined our bellies and we then said goodbye and headed to the train.