April 30th is known as Koninginnedag in the Netherlands. In English it means Queen's Day. It is the official celebration for Queen Beatrix's birthday. It's is kind of like Victoria Day in Canada, but the celebration is much bigger. Much, much, much bigger. Especially in Amsterdam and The Hague.
The night before is known as Queen's night, and the main celebration is in The Hague. I went there with some friends at around 2200. We put on our orange clothing(this is a must) and headed out into the streets. They were packed. We went towards the Grote Markt, which is one of the main squares in The Hague. But, we couldn't get in! The police had cordoned off all the streets going in to the square saying there was too many people inside! I was able to see in, and I had never seen so many people in one place before. So, we went to another place where there was a live concert going on. What was realy cool, was the guys with tanks on their back going around selling beer. They had a little tap that came around the front that could dispense it. Though it was a bit expensive. I went back to Rotterdam that night around 4:00Am. Next morning I had to be up early to go to Amsterdam.
By 10:00 I was on the train to Amsterdam. The train was full of orange dressed people heading to the big party. We arrived in Amsterdam, and it was not bad. There was lots of people, but it wasn't too crowded. There is something special about Queen's Day, where it is allowed that everyone can sell their old stuff in the streets. So, the city was like one huge flea market. So we walked though the streets, and browsed the stuff for sale. We eventually ended up in Vondelpark where we relaxed in the sun. When we decided to head back towards the centre, we ran into a problem. While we relaxed, the crowds had grown so large, that going down the street was no longer possible. There was just that many people. So we decided to wander around the edges, and hope we could somehow make our way to the centre eventually. When I finally left that evening, the city was a mess. Garbage was everywhere, and the urinals were overflowing into the streets. But, I think it was a fun day.
