Queen's Day

Queen's Day, or Koninginnedag, is a national holiday in the Netherlands that is celebrated on April 30, the former queen, Juliana's, birthday. The holiday has traditionally been changed to the current queen's birthday, but the birthday of Queen Beatrix is actually in January.  She kept Queen's Day on her mother's birthday so the weather would hopefully be nicer for all of the outdoor partying.  It's nice that the queen is willing to make accommodations like that- not really needing to celebrate on her birthday, so her country can have an easier time for their drunken revelry in the streets. 

It's really a rather strange holiday.  It seems like all rules of civil society are thrown out of the window and all of the cities in the Netherlands go crazy.  Everything closes, drinking in the streets becomes legal, concert stages are set up i
n every square, a free-for-all flea market in the streets becomes legal for the day, mass public toilets
, street blockades and portable bars are brought out and everybody dresses up in as much orange as possible to go gallivanting drunkenly through the streets.  I saw some people who made a two-in-one moped and couch combination they were driving around.  There were countless groups on boats going through the canals...

Dutch pop songs were playing, US pop songs, techno music, pretty much everything was coming out of every speaker in town, whether on stage or from the closest bar.

The celebration started the night before, Queen's Night if you will, when the city center was draped in flags, streamers and confetti, and the crowds allowed for zero breathing space.

 Roads were blocked off and the city center was swarming with people.  The next morning we had a communal breakfast in the house and headed back out in the most unflattering color in the world.

People had blanket set up where they were selling things, bands were playing everywhere, and the streets were swarming with people.  Unlike the previous few days which had been cold and rainy, the sun was out and it was a beautiful day.  I would like to thank the queen for that.  I'm sure she put in a good word for her mother's birthday. 

After a couple hours of relaxing back at home, we headed back out into the streets where there was dancing outdoors, although things had slowed down a bit because everybody was tired after a long day of  tough work having fun.

A guy who I met who has lived in Groningen for a few years said that Queen's Day in whatever city you're in is better than New Year's Eve in Amsterdam.  I cannot personally vouch for the validity of this statement, but I do have to say it was a ton of fun.  The mass amount of people having fun in crazy outfits and spending hours outside in the beautiful spring air left the city looking like a tornado had hit, but it was definitely a celebration to remember. 

Here's the lovely lady this is all in honor of.  She stopped by a couple of cities to say 'hi' on her "birthday."