May 4th and 5th are big days in The Netherlands. On May 5, three days before VE Day, the end of the Second World War in Europe, the German commander in the Netherlands signed an instrument of surrender with the Canadian forces commander and the German occupation of the Netherlands ended. Some of the territory in the eastern part of the country had been liberated days earlier as Canadian, soldiers in Germany who turned westward. The Western Netherlands were still under Nazi occupation and people were starving. Commonwealth bombers dropped 7000 tons of food over the Western Netherlands in “Operation Manna.” The American Army Air Corps dropped an additional 4,000 tons in “Operation Chow Hound.”

Now May 4 is observed as Dodenherdenking, Remembrance Day, where flags are flown at half-staff, and towns present memorial concerts and speeches remembering those killed in the Second World War. This year some of the remembrances include Ukraine.

The next day the Dutch pull out all the stops. Bevrijdingsdag, Liberation Day is a big deal. There are concerts, parties, speeches, the works. Flags fly from many homes and apartments.

On May 5 we were in IJmuiden. It is a port on the North Sea about 40 minutes by car from Amsterdam. It has locks where the canal from Amsterdam enters the North Sea. It’s also a ferry port from Holland to the UK. Amsterdam has a fine cruise terminal. In the past, we’ve sailed right into the capital, but Amsterdam is trying to limit tourism, including cruise ships, so we docked in IJmuiden. Most cruise visitors get a train, bus, cab (€65 to €85 one way, ouch) to Amsterdam.

Because Amsterdam is a hub for Bevrijdingsdag celebrations Holland America put on a shuttle to Haarlam, which is only about 15 to 20 minutes away. They thought it would be quieter. I looked up Haarlam to see what they do for Bevrijdingsdag. A lot. They have a pop music festival, Bevrijdingspop (Liberation Pop) that runs on several stages, has a huge kids’ area and draws about 130,000 celebrants. I, of course, wanted to go, but thought I should warn Daniel what he was sending his charges into. They might want to know. I sent him a link to the festival and he made a cautionary announcement.
Our friends John and Pam caught us in the hall and asked if we had heard about the festival that Daniel had just talked about. “Uh, yes.”

“Are you going?”

“Yep”

“Can we come along?”

“Sure.”

The festival started at noon so while some were off early in the morning to Amsterdam, and others to Haarlem to get there and back before the crowds, we slept in, grabbed the 11 AM shuttle and got to the festival as it opened. From the shuttle stop at the train station John got us an Uber. We found many of the streets blocked off, but he got us pretty close. Our first stop was the kids area.

Then we went to the main stage. Pam and I noticed not many people were dancing. At other festivals music we both had been to there would be lots of people up and boogieing. They were mostly standing up but not yet movin’.

There were food booths, drink booths, ear plug vendors and you could buy a toilet passport, a wrist band, €3.20, that got you into the toilet areas without having to shell out a euro a pee.

From noon on people just kept on coming. After about two hours we started back toward the train station and shuttle bus. We were like a salmon swimming upstream, walking into phalanx after phalanx of concert goers. They came in waves. A train would come in, the advanced scouts would come on bikes. Then the wall of people from that train like a wave that swept around us. Then the null until the next train brought the next wave.

About halfway back to the station we stopped for some Dutch Fries. Double fried in two different vats of oil and served, in my case, with spicy chicken.

Then we walked back toward the bus through the main market square for a little sightseeing. The cafes were full for the holiday. We got back to the ship just before the mandatory 4:30 safety drill and sail out.