Koninginnedag in Amsterdam

Queen's birthdays not your thing? Normally this would be a day of dignitaries parading about in a paddock but not in the Netherlands! Somehow the Dutch royalty have remained a quite 'normal' family, OK very posh but still seen about on the streets. On the 30th of April they celebrate the Queen's birthday, actually it's the Dutch Queen Mother's birth date, and it's really a day of celebrating Dutchness more than anything else. It's also the free market day, where at some point in history they declared the date tax free on private sales. So what it really ends up being is...

a.) a holiday
b.) a huge party about the city the night before (due to a.)
c.) a huge outdoor garage sale as it's tax free (or was?)
d.) a massive street party
e.) and possibly the worlds largest display of the colour orange ever seen??

We spent the day roaming about the Jordaan (you don't get very far on two wheels on this particular day in Amsterdam),with KiwiMark, Julie, John & Hester and the usual suspects. Great fun was had by all and it was to be the warmest Queensday on record, a relief as last year it barely got above 10 degrees!

Here's some photo's we collected with our new telephoto lens...

Innovative Dutch style disco lighting

Crowd gearing up for Konningenacht (pre match party night)

The Usual Suspects, Konningenacht

Size 38 anyone? Imelda Marcos seated on the right

Looking for a parking spot

Show me yer orange

Celebrating from a safe distance

The throng in the Jordaan

A very questionable T shirt (lucky you can't it read eh?)

Hup Holland!

Mayhem on the canals

Orange party boat

Old style Amsterdam sounds

Oranje boven!

Orange at birth

Julie, Mark & Hester

Julie & Sharon

The Usual Suspects!

The future King of the Netherlands