For the 16th time, Amsterdam’s waterways have played host to the now traditional annual Canal Parade of boats laden with homosexual, bisexual, transsexual and – not to forget - heterosexual people, celebrating the highpoint of the Dutch capital’s Gay Pride week. This year's theme was All Together Now.

Some 80 boats made their way down Amsterdam’s famous Prinsengracht with a estimated crowd of 400,000 looking on from dry land, many of them having to bring out their umbrellas later in the afternoon when torrential summer downpours struck.

This year, for the first time, a boatload of military personnel took part in uniform with the formal approval of the ministry of defence. On the Defence vessel was former US Lieutenant Dan Choi, who lost his job two years ago when he came out of the closet. Since, he has become the face of the US gay rights movement. Also new was a boat for gay members of the Netherlands' Hindustani population organised by a group which wants to break open several taboos with their community.

The  Amsterdam Gay Pride festival will continue well into Sunday. Watch Krista Arriëns' video, below, to feel what it was like!