Carnival Celebration in Maastricht

I had to dedicate a blog entry to the single most important event of the year here in the Netherlands . . . drum roll please . . . Carnival (or otherwise known as Mardi Gras in other parts of the world)!  This is a huge 3-Day (2/19-2/21/2012) celebration where thousands of people congregate in the streets of Maastricht dressed in elaborate costumes, march in the parade, sing songs, drink way too much, etc.  We missed a portion of the Carnival celebration since we were in Portugal but got to check it out when we returned.  Here are a couple pics.
Maastricht made #10 of 12 cities in the world for Carnaval/Mardi Gras celebrations:
http://www.bing.com/travel/content/search?q=Mardi+Gras+Around+the+World%3a+Introduction&cid=msn1250394&FORM=HPTRAV