How many n's in Koninginnedag?

Well next year it won't matter because next year it becomes Koningsdag! And yes they are both spelt correctly.

The beloved Dutch Queen has abdicated, given up her title and passed the baton on to her son. The message everywhere is "Bedankt Beatrix, Welkom Willem-Alexander!" (Thank you Beatrix, Welcome Willem-Alexander).

Because of Konninginnedag we were able to enjoy a long weekend break. And we had friends visiting! Abi, Frank and Joshua spent the weekend with us and we managed to get out and do a few touristy things.

First stop: the local park to test out the slides and other great play things.

Spring has finally arrived and everything is starting to look a lot more cheerful

We made a trip to Keukenhof to see tulips and a range of other flowers

Frank, Josh and Abi

Then on Monday Justin and Frank headed through to Amsterdam for a tour of the city. Everywhere we went the city was getting ready for the big Queens Day celebrations. If you are not wearing orange on Queens Day then you are not really considered to be taking part. Needless to say that the shops all mark-up and make a killing selling anything orange. 

Some of the sights around Amsterdam...

Even Rembrandts' statue was decked out in orange...

Today (Queens Day) started with a tour of Rotterdam. We headed out to the market and introduced Abi and Frank to our favourite cheese seller. After stocking up on our favourite cheeses we headed down to the harbour. 

We had a bit of a break in the middle of the day while Josh caught 40 winks and then headed out again. This time to Kinderdijk. 

We have had a great weekend and an awesome time hanging out with Frank, Abi and Joshua. We hope you guys enjoy the rest of your time in Europe!!