Happy Koninginnedag! (Queen's Day!)

Well, I've survived my first Queen's Day in Holland. I have to say, this day was unlike anything else I've ever experienced. The Running of the Bulls in Pamplona was pretty darn close, but not quite as crazy as this!

Queen's Day is Holland's National Holiday, kind of like the 4th of July in the US, but it is the Queen's Birthday (well, okay, it was the FORMER Queen's birthday - the current queen's birthday is in January, which wouldn't be nearly as fun). The color orange is everywhere - it's the national color, and comes from the Dutch royal family, which is the House of Orange. There are orange banners, orange colored foods and drinks, and extreme amounts of orange clothing and creative accessories are worn as well. During the day (starting at about 6 am!), there is a 'vrijmarkt' ('freemarket'), which is kind of like a gigantic garage sale . Many people set up stalls or blankets in parks or on sidewalks. Most of the items for sale, I found, were pretty much junk, but people are still buying! I bought a few books, didn't really see any other "must-haves".

My friend Nadia from work joined me around 12, and we made our way through Vondelpark, which is pretty fun on Queen's Day. That park is for children only to sell their belongings, and it's really cute how they market their wares. We then walked up the city center, where the canals were packed with boats carrying many partiers. After about 5 hours of all of this craziness, we were pretty "knackered" (Nadia is British, so I'm learning all kinds of new words!). She went back to Utrecht, and I back to my cozy little apartment.

Check one more thing off of the life to-do list!

Here are some pictures from the day:

Many Dutch flags were flying on this national holiday!

The Street outside my apartment at 7:00 am! People were already on the hunt for bargains!

I'm not sure I captured the shear craziness of the "free market", but this is an idea... picture this for miles and miles!

Boats on the Prinsengracht

Craziness on Leidseplein (one of the main squares downtown)

More craziness on Leidseplein

Partiers on the Prinsengraght

The Amsterdam flag flying proudly

Next stop... London! I'm leaving tomorrow morning on an early flight! I'll give an update hopefully on Monday!