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| Thursday, May 01, 2008 |
 Queen's Day, or Koninginnedag in Dutch, was originally to celebrate the birth of Queen Juliana. When she was succeeded by the current Queen, Beatrix, the holiday was kept on April 30th since Beatrix's birthday was in January, and it's too cold to party in January! The day is celebrated by parties all over the country, a lot of orange, and a lot of beer. The Queen usually makes a few appearances around the country to watch traditional Dutch signing and dancing. This year she went to some town in the north. Additionally, today is also vrijmarkt day. There are no taxes today and people are allowed to sell their own wares. Markets open up all over the cities and places like Vondelpark in Amsterdam become giant flea markets.
The festivities begin the night before (Queen's Night) with partying and outdoor dancing as the sound stages get filled with bands and the streets filled with revelers. The party doesn't last too long the night before but it's all about getting in the mood. I noticed a lot of the people in the area around Utrecht the first night we're young kids. Maybe the first night is when they come out and play?
Queen's Day celebration reaches its height in Amsterdam. The mixture of locals, tourists, and visiting Dutch creates a very festive and very packed (about 500,000 people visit) environment. Although the weather wasn't great this year, the city was still awash with parties. Even along the canals, the party doesn't stop, as they turn into highways of partying house boats, all playing music filled with orange beer drinkers!
Taking the train from Utrecht, we arrived in Amsterdam around 2pm. The train was packed with people and the station chaotic. Everyone was already drinking, even on the train. On Queen's Day, drinking in the open is allowed. All over the city, bars have stalls set up to provide thirsty revelers with their needed sustenance, all for a price of 2 euros. They also charge you 1 euro for the cup but, if you bring it back, you get your Euro returned. Wonder how many people returned their cups?!
We walked a lot of the city, stopping often for drinks, dancing, and conversation with strangers. I wish hoping to run into some friends but we never stayed one place long enough. We wandered through the town and towards the Red Light District. The streets just kept getting more crowded and the crowd more male. We passed through the area and I noticed all the curtains windows were closed. Must have been a busy day for those ladies.
 Before we knew it, it was time to head back The trains only run until midnight and no one wanted to be on the packed last train. The train was already bursting by the time we got on. We kept the party going for a bit longer back in Utrecht before we all passed out from our day of drinking. Though I would have liked to stayed in the city longer, it was still a fun holiday celebration. (Though I'm sure the pictures convey that too!)
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posted by Nomadic Matt @ 6:48 AM  |
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| 3 Comments: |
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And yes he posted about it:-)
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Great pics. Have a cool trip.
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I was in Amsterdam for queen’s day in 2003, the hotels were WAY expensive but it was a cool experience
The street vendors were selling these little pickled fish with mayo and chopped onions that were way tasty
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And yes he posted about it:-)