Koninginnedag!!!

April 30, 2011- Today is April 30 which means it is Koninginnedag, or Queen’s Day!!!  Queen’s Day is the largest national holiday celebrated in the Netherlands.  It celebrates the queen’s birthday, although the current queen, Queen Beatrix, has a different birthday, the Dutch people still celebrate her birthday on that day.  April 30 was chosen because it was the Queen Juliana’s birthday, the previous queen of the Netherlands.   This day consists of people all over the Netherlands traveling to Amsterdam and essentially having a huge party with everyone wearing orange, the royal color.  Also, the canals were completely filled with boats, each blasting music and partying.  

I went downtown with a couple other friends to also celebrate.  We just walked around the city for most of the time.  The streets were filled with people all wearing orange.  

They were so filled with people that there was only one way to walk, with the current.  This current of people stretched from Dam Square, to Rembrandtplein, to Leidseplein, to Museumplein.  I actually got separated from the rest of the group at a concert in Rembrandtplein.  

I made the mistake of trying to walk through a massive group of people at the concert…oops.  Once I escaped I walked around the city seeing everything that was going on and looking at various shops.  I eventually made it to Vondel Park.  Although Queen’s Day consists of a ton of people drinking and partying having a good time, it also consists of street vendors having “garage sales.”  Vondel Park is the place where children are allowed to sell all of their unwanted items and also perform a certain talent.  

I eventually made it back to Museumplein where a huge concert was going on.  

I actually ran into some friends in the giant crowd and walked around the city with them also.  But after a long day of walking around the whole city, I was exhausted and started heading back at around 8pm.  By that time, the whole city was completely trashed!  Broken beer bottles and trash completely filled the streets and it was disgusting.  I feel sorry for the people who had to clean up afterwards.  Queen’s Day was a lot of fun even though I didn’t participate in any of the partying.  Just walking around the city seeing everything that goes on was a great time.  I would say Queen’s Day is the epitome of Dutch culture.