Koninginnedag. What a crazy name for a crazy day! In English, Koninginnedag means "Queen's Day", but a more rough translation is "everyone party in the street, selling whatever you want." Picture a cross between Summerfest and a garage sale, but with everyone wearing orange. The day is supposed to be all about national pride and celebrating the queen mum's birthday, but I think people just like to have an excuse to party.
I headed downtown Amsterdam at around 12:30 to join the festivities. It was so crazy!! All of the main squares of the city(Rembrandtsplein, Museumplein, Waterlooplein, Heinekenplein)had huge stages with either live music or roaring techno. Most people were already drunk by about 2 pm. I, however, was there to observe, not to drink. Apparently, about 2 million people descend upon the city center during the day, and the center is not that large. There were thick crowds of people on every street, which made travelling in a large group virtually impossible. But somehow, we managed.
The other funny part of this day is that people sell things on the street. It's like one, giant garage sale. People were selling anything from food, to used clothes, to toys, to purses. Kids were playing instruments, trying to earn some money too. One guy from my floor sold balloons filled with laughing gas...until he got in trouble with the cops, that is. I didn't buy any clothes, but I did purchase an outstanding pannekoek from a random vendor.
The canals were filled with boats blaring music and carrying loads of passengers wearing all sorts of outfits. My personal favorite was the crew that was wearing bright orange bunny rabbit suits. They were great. Another boat had a "royal family" that was not very convincing, seeing as they all had beers in their hands and were falling over. It was amazing that they all stayed on the boat!
Basically, it was just a crazy day.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
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