Orange Crushed!

July 11. 2010
All I can say is it was like it was New Year's Eve in July, and I was nowhere near Museum Square, in the center of Amsterdam! They even sang "Auld Lang Syne" in Dutch several times during the evening and there were fireworks. There was a record 180,000people packed into the center of Amsterdam to watch the 2010 World Cup game. The aerial view on the bottom photo shows the sea of orange before the game. On TV they showed the helicopters dropping orange daisies onto the crowd (a real Dutch floral touch!) The festivities started in the late afternoon, and while I was giving my lecture at 5PM you could hear the horns and the party music outside of the conference center. One of the local Dutch doctors arranged for a group of us to go to a bar called Macy's in the southern part of Amsterdam to watch the game. It was a perfect choice because it was festive, friendly, and safe. While watching the game I kept thinking that the Spanish were handling the ball better but the Dutch had several shots on goal to keep the game alive. When the Spanish team scored it became deathly quiet in the room and when they won not a word was said. You can see in the pictures that there were a lot of people in the bar. No heckling, no cursing, no "what ifs?" Just quiet. When we left Macy's we had no idea where we were, but we managed to get on a packed trolley and ended up somewhere near our hotel. There were thousands of people on the street, all dressed in orange, either walking or cycling. It was the oddest sight--people all dressed in orange, on their bicycles at night. The crowd was incredibly well-behaved compared to US standards. I am sorry for the Dutch, but I am sure the people who live near the canals or on houseboats are very relieved, because had the team won, there would have been a massive boat parade on the canals. Despite the home team's loss it was a memorable event that I'll never forget!