There are few basic things that everyone should know about the Netherlands: the country is totally flat (for the most part), 25% of it is below sea level, you bike everywhere, there's great cheese, the Dutch grow fields and fields of beautiful tulips, they drink Pickwick tea with no milk, Holland is not exactly the same as the Netherlands but a certain region it, the Dutch are TALL, the Dutch associate every social and sporting event with beer, the Netherlands color is orange, and Koninginnedag -- Queen's Day --is a BIG deal!
So you that have some background, I did some copy-pasting:
On August 31, 1880, Princess Wilhelmina was born in The Hague. She was the last child of King William III and the only child to outlive him. On August 31, 1885, and on the same date each year after that public birthday celebrations were held for her. The occasion was originally known as Princesses Day (Prinsessedag) and became known as Queen's Day in 1890 after Wilhelmina became Queen following the death of her father. On August 31, 1902, people in the Netherlands heard that Queen Wilhelmina had recovered from typhus and Queen's Day became a true public celebration.
On September 6, 1948, Wilhelmina's daughter, Juliana became queen and from 1949, the Queen's Day celebrations were moved to April 30, her birthday. On April 30, 1980, Beatrix, Juliana's daughter, became queen. Her birthday is on January 31, but the date of Queen's Day remained the same as a way of honoring Juliana. Hence, Queen's Day is the Queen's official birthday and the anniversary of her coronation.
Queen Beatrix visits a different Dutch town each Queen's day. She decided to keep Queen's day in April since her birthday is in January, and it would be too cold to have mega street parties then! Basically, it's an all-orange Mardi Gras in Amsterdam. Here's some insight into my Queen's day -
You have to wear orange, so I went all out for the oompa-loompa look.
Pam went for the candy-corn look.
Are they selling candy corn in the US now even though it's not Halloween?
I have some curious European friends...
It couldn't have been a more beautiful day for the Queen's kind-of birthday!
Seriously, we're talking 70F, clear skies, potential sunburn...
Getting off the train in Amsterdam
The train was packed!
I made her do this, but now I swear she's happy I did.
First impression, looking back at the train station
Edwin knows what to do for our first stop.
Second stop: Jur needs some orange!
This puppy goes 4.3G's - the most in the world for a carnival ride.
Pam, Johanna, Simke, & I did the same ride the night before (Queen's night!) in Den Haag,
and let's just say I've never been more afraid for a ride in my life. Pam has video proof!
About to hit the party...
Orange!
In honor of all the orange, I will do a an orange themed joke for each picture. There's no way I'm claiming these be original, btw.
What did the farmer say to the green pumpkin?
Why orange you orange?
Why did the orange go out with the prune?
Because he couldn't find a date!
Why was the girl staring at a carton of orange juice?
It said concentrate!
Why did the orange stop rolling down the hill?
It ran out of juice!
What can a whole orange do that a half orange can never do?
Look round!
Okay in all seriousness, this picture shows one of my favorite things about Queen's day in Amsterdam:
Boats full of people decked (ha!) out in orange, music blaring, dancing, almost sinking boats, a beautiful day, and happy people.
What did the little chick say when its mother laid an orange?
"Look at the orange marmalade!"
Don't pretend like you not actually giggling out loud at that one...because I am.
Whats the difference between a walrus and an orange?
Put your arms around it and squeeze it. If you don't get an orange juice, it's a walrus.
No more good orange joke exit. I refuse to use knock-knock jokes.
Do you think they have too many people in that boat?
Red, white, and blue, ... and ORANGE!
So you might be wondering why orange is the national color if the flag is red, white, and blue. Well, it comes from their royal family - Willem van Oranje (William of Orange). "Prince of Orange" is still a title used.
On Queen's Day, you can just climb on whatever you want to.
We bought drinks from some gypsies.
Queen's day is also a big market where people sell literally anything, and a lot of it is second hand.
There's a DJ in the window.
Gettin her freak on Queen's day style
Another favorite part of this day is a random dance party in an alley, complete with a tasteful window dancer!
Ice cream and sangria, yum!
Look at that body!
The #1 song in the Netherlands... is in Portuguese!
Heineken!
Impossible to walk
"Dames WC" Man, I hate paying to pee.
On Queen's day, expect to pay 1euro to pee. That was $1.3153 on Monday!
Pit stop at a Brazilian place for some Guarana antarctica soda
Another pit stop: Uruguayan sausage and bread, nom nom
Park time...
...means handstand time
Johanna, Jur, Pam, & Edwin
Pretty candy-corn-lady
EW!
Surviving the day and still smiling :)
Pam really wants chicken satay!
Look Pam, are you sure about this?
I've never been more sure about anything in my life!
Ugh, Becca is making us take a picture even though we just want chicken satay.
Amsterdam was entirely covered in trash by the end of the day.
I think this was a bathroom store or a public toilet.
Either way, it was a tease.
I'd like to leave you with a couple last pictures of our favorite window dance showing his true colors.
I don't think the pictures quite capture his age, but he was pretty old.
This may explain why he didn't really know any words to any of the "popular" songs!
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