The last week of July, there was an event called the Friesland Balloon festival in Joure (a town in Friesland). It is a festival about balloons and ballooning. The area where we live is usually quite busy with balloons in the summer. We can often see a balloon flying on days with long daylight in the combination with good weather. Wow! We could see the balloons up close?? We went the event happily.
それが、行ってみると気球がない！前日夜に嵐が来たからか結構風も強かったんですよね。会場にはしぼんで地面に横たわっている気球が一つだけ（たんなる汚いマットに見える・・・）。天候が気球向きではなかったんでしょう。気球、という意味では残念な結果でしたが、他にもいろいろと楽しいものが繰り広げられていました。（ま、天気の予期できないオランダ、気球だけではお祭り企画できませんわな・・・）。
But when we arrived there, there were no balloons. It had been stormy weather at the night before and the wind was still quite strong. Actually there was a deflated balloon lying on the ground (it looked like just a dirty mat.). It was not good weather for ballooning. For balloon watching, it was a disappointing, but there were other fun activities as well. (Yes, the weather in the Netherlands is unpredictable. Nobody would plan a festival only about balloons...)
このお祭り、実は約１週間ずーっとやっているのです。で、毎日何かしらテーマがある。我らが行った日曜日はオールドタイマーデーということで、クラシックカーの集まる日だったようで、イベントが始まる時間ちょっと前に着いた我々、ぞくぞくと入ってくるクラシックカーたちのパレードを見ることができました。これはこれですばらしい。ちなみに全部アマチュアコレクターですよ。
This festival lasts a week. And there is a kind of theme for each day. The Sunday we went was old timer day. It was an event for classic cars. Since we arrived there a bit earlier than the starting time of the event, we could see a kind of parade of classic cars entering into the event area. It was quite impressive. All are owned by just amateur collectors.
クラシックなのは乗用車だけではありませんよー。クラシック農業用トラクターも列を連ねます。これがまたかっこいい！
There were not only normal classic cars. There were many classic agricultural tractors as well. They were really cool!
さらにこんなものまで。軍用トラック（アメリカのもの）。マニアの方々はすごいですよ。服装もきっちり迷彩服でした。
These were as well. Army trucks (from the American army). Maniac people were also wearing army clothes...
我らがBoyの目を引いたのはこちら！クラシック消防車！一回乗るとなかなか降りてくれません。
The thing that really got Boy's attention was this! A classic fire truck! Once he was on, he didn't want to leave...
そのほかにも子供用の移動遊園地、サーカスなどが用意されていて、一日遊べる楽しいイベントでした。気球があったらもっと良かったんだろうけど・・・。
Other than that, there were a moving amusement park, a circus and so on. It was a good fun event where we could easily spend a whole day. It might have been better if there had been some balloons though...
おまけにトランポリンを独り占めで遊ぶBoyの動画を少し。このトランポリン、オランダでは子供が集まるイベントには必ずといっていいほどあるんですよね。無料なのがうれしい。ジャンプもかなり上手になってきました。
Additionally, a movie of Boy occupying a bouncy castle. This type of bouncy castle is seen almost all child-friendly events in the Netherlands. I am happy it is always free... Boy is getting better and better at jumping.