Amsterdam: the Gay Pride 2008

Amsterdam: The Gay Pride 2008

The Amsterdam gay pride in Amsterdam is one of the best in the world, it will be organised from July 29th till August 3rd 2008. It has the unique floating Canal Parade through the famous Amsterdam canals, voted best Pride outside the USA.

Gay Pride Amsterdam is the yearly highlight for gay Amsterdam. Don't miss this thrilling weekend, as Amsterdam Pride is one of the biggest and most special gay prides around the globe! With sports, culture, street parties all weekend long, the best club circuit parties and of course the famous Canal Parade on Saturday.

The Amsterdam Gay Pride weekend will be full of events and parties. In the end the complete program will be a mix for anyone's taste. These are the main outlines of everything to come up.

Keep an eye on Amsterdampride.nl to get the latest updates on parties and events.

The highlight of the Amsterdam Pride Weekend is the famous Canal Parade on Saturday afternoon. Over 70 boats floating through the Prinsengracht and Amstel River. This parade is watched by 350.000 spectators every year.

Second night of the Pride party weekend. Tonight the big gay street parties will place start at the Reguliersdwarsstraat (Young / trendy), Amstel (Dutch), Reguliersdwarsstraat 2 (Caribbean) Westermarkt , Paardenstraat (Women), Rembrandtplein, Zeedijk and Amstelveld and probably at many other locations.

Next to the gay streetparties , which start already early afternoon, Saturday night is party night. This evening will be full of circuit parties.

We went to the gay pride a little too late so we didn't had the best spot (the best spot is on the bridge on the canals) First I went by train  from Arnhem to Amsterdam together with my friend Farida.

Then we went to a friend of hers, the are from the Dutch Antilles, so eating is very important and we got an warm meal when we arrived. I didn't met her friends before, but they are great and very friendly!

I wanted to take a lot of pictures but unfortunatly my battery of my camera broke down... So I have all the pictures of the Canal-Parade but none of the great party afterwards in the Reguliers Dwarsstraat. That is the place-to-be for the gay people. I saw there a fiew of fabulous Drag-Queens and beautiful people.

The atmosphere was very friendly, and the music was great. There were all kinds of people: ofcourse gays and lesbians, but also a lot of parents with children, older people, on this day it doesn't matter wat you are; everybody is the same.

For me as a strait girl it was hard to see that the gay boys are sooo handsome and friendly! We could flirt, but nothing more ;-)

 

Gay Pride in the news:

Amsterdam gears up for Gay Pride

Friday 01 August 2008

Gay tourists spend almost 30% more on a trip to Amsterdam than other visitors, reports Friday’s NRC.

Next as the capital gears up for its annual Gay Pride parade this weekend.

According to figures from Amsterdam’s tourism bureau ATCB, homosexuals spend €142 a day, compared to the overall average of €138 and stay in the city for five rather than four nights.

The biggest number of gay tourists are from the US (24%) and Britain (22%), reports NRC.Next.

But Amsterdam is no longer the gay capital of the world, says to the paper. Cities such as Barcelona, Berlin, Madrid, Paris, London and even Cape Town are gaining in popularity it says.

It points out that only one-third of the travel agents in a survey carried out by the Inholland college in 2006 named Amsterdam as the gay capital of the world.

Part of the problem is increasing intolerance against homosexuals in Amsterdam, reports the NRC.

Next.

As in previous years, the Gay Pride parade will see hundreds of boats forming a colourful flotilla through the city’s Prinsengracht canal on Saturday.

The theme of this year’s Gay Pride event is ‘Religion, hope and love’. As in past year the organisers expect it to attract around 350,000 spectators.

Earlier this week a number of prominent Labour ministers and Amsterdam’s Labour mayor Job Cohen confirmed they will take part in the Gay Pride parade in a show of solidarity against discrimination against homosexuals.

The Christian Democrat prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende and family minister André Rouvoet of the orthodox Christian ChristenUnie party turned down an invitation to join the event.

And for the first time, financial services group ING is the main sponsor of the event this year, says NRC.

Next. Other companies taking part are post and express delivery firm TNT, ABN Amro bank and energy concern Shell.