April 30, 2009 Koninginnedag..the real Queen's Day

So Queens Day begins with somethign called the Vrijmarkt, which means Free market. It is the one day of the year everyone across the country brings out their junk, or cooks some baked goods, or dances or plays music. They basically turn the country to a flea market, where people have everything possible for sale. There is a large amount of involvement with the whole family, where the kids play intruments or dance, or do cartwheels hoping to make a few Euro. Here we are on one of about a thousand bridges in Amsterdam littered with vendors and buyers, drunks and a canal full of festivities behind them all.

Here is Dam Square on Queens Day, the square full of thousands of people

A nice kiss as we relax in Harlemeerstraat in the Jordan neighborhood after walking all day



One of the many streets we walked down with just so many people, the city grows from 750,000 people to 2 million people just for Queensday.



Here is Saviya on Damrak on Queens day, with the festival behind her in Dam Square



After 7 hours of marchin around Amsterdam we begin to head for home, here near U of Amsterdam and the flower market



A panarama from our rooftop on Koninginnedag

Many of these boats on the canals had 100db+ (very loud) DJ's on board, live spinning music, serving Heineken or Amstel, going around and around the canals all day long...

What the heck is this, that cant be legal... a platform with an outboard...i wish i was there for the sinking that undoubtedly happed later that evening..

The Dutch managed not to wreck into each other, even when they were ignoring the signs saying 'No Entry'..they just manage to merge together just in time, just like them on bikes...

So 9 hours after we went home, we were tired and beaten up, having walked more the 5 miles across Amsterdam for Queens Day. It was nice of all these people to throw a party for our arrival. Sore and tired we climb up our 70+ steps to bed.

-Colin