A flea market in orange colors

Just as we planned, on Monday morning we went for a big "hunting". I forced Maurice to get up early (at least early for us), we took our second-hand bicycle and we rode to the biggest park in Nijmegen. On a way we were passing a lot of other people, all going the same direction and with the same purpose - shopping! 

That's barely a small part of the flea market in the Goffertpark

The area of the Goffert park is almost 83 hectares and on Koninginnedag it's changing into a biggest flea market I have ever seen in my whole life. Hundreds of stalls, thousands of people, buzz, laugh, bargaining, countless amount of different objects... mini coffee cups, colorful pencils, toys, lamps, vases, pots, hundreds of cloths, coffee tables, closets and sofas! Anything you can imagine. And all of it in bright orange color! i was so excited going from one stall to another, checking the stuff they offer, asking for the price (in dutch!) and adding another kilograms of my purchase on the tireless (though already a bit overloaded) arms of Maurice. Besides it wasn't only me who was buying. We were both debating over decorations for our new hen house. 

A family selling their stuff, all wearing orange ;)

A traditional dutch accent

A park street filled with people and stalls

Justine happy with her new house decorations

The weather was brilliant. Number of people all the time increasing. The green of grass and trees was mixing with the orange of cloths and gadgets. Everyone was trading with anything possible. The whole families were stittingon the mats filled with things they wanted to sell. Meanwhile nobody was interested with buying, they were sunbathing, relaxing, preparing food, they brought with them in baskets.Some were advertising aspecial orange cupcakes they baked for this day. With orange topping, in orange papers. Children, especially girls were really inventive and creative. Anyone who knew how to play on any music instrument, were showing off his/her music skills. A group of girls prepared a choreography for one of most popular lately brazilian songs. They were selling toys, their own baked pastry. I stoped by three little girls offering a small painting of an orange crown or a dutch flag on your face for 50 cents. I couldn't refuse it.

A poster advertising this arty service ;)

It's easy to get hungry or thirsty with all this shopping, but many were prepared also for this. You could buy home-made turkish snacks, delicious samosas with veggies and meat, broodjes Unox (kind of hot dog bun with saussage), sweets, can sodas... There was a whole line of trailers with snacks and fast food. Dutch, asian, middle-eastern... all kind of food. I finally had an opportunity to try the famous, loved by Dutch nation poffertjes, which are tiny, fluffy pancakes, lavishly covered with powder sugar. Of course I also couldn't resist the candy floss (I wouldn't be myself if I'd not get it!). 

We were surrounded with all different languages. You could even have a feeling like you're for example in Turkey. A wonderful mix of nations, cultures and everyone in briliant moods. Maurice kept repeating me, that I'm a collector, looking at the things we bought. Well, it's hard to stop! It was soooooo cheap. Only his rational voice and the idea that we have to carry all of it home did stop me from a well known "shop till you drop!". And that was the beginning of my first celebration of the Queensday ever :)