Sinterklaas & Zwarte Pieten: On All Four & Three, Two And One Wheel

Sinterklaas & his Zwarte Pieten arrived in Amsterdam two weekends ago. Tradition has it that, after docking his ship (coming from Spain and all), he gets on his white horse and joins the welcoming parade around town. The Zwarte Pieten (singular=Piet) complete this festive scene, handing out peper- and kruidnoten to kids. Of course, Amsterdam is the bicycle capital of the world, hence, many of the Pieten move around by bike. They know what's good for them. Which naturally also applies to the parents and kids who came out in droves to join to the celebration. Albeit, on a very wet day. And a thing that's become part of this tradition, which you might have noticed in the pictures, is that the bicycles were sponsored by Workcycles (Sinterklaas' market share is still big, but he probably suffered some collateral damage with his derivatives portfolio :-p). And here's Henry Cutler's own take of it all, much more detailed, not surprisingly, as he does have kids. For now, I'll have to do with my own childhood memories :).