Koninginnedag overleefd?

"Dag justin. Heb je je eerste koninginnedag overleefd?"

That is the question I was asked after the annual Queen's Day festivities which were held yesterday. For a question like this, there is no simple 'yes' or 'no'. So here goes...

It starts with getting decked out in orange.

And heading to Amsterdam, the city of pretty houses...

and canals.

Except something is amiss today. There are pirates about.

And the flags all have extra orange bits attached.

You see today (April 30th) is the Queen's birthday. Not the current Queen, her mom. Seems the current Queen's birthday is in winter and nobody really fancies the idea of having a festival in winter.

Festivities are hosted all over the country, but the biggest festivities are in Amsterdam. I've been told there is live music to be enjoyed. Just follow the crowd...

Of course on the way there is lots of other things to enjoy. A funny law that the Dutch flaunt on this day is that anybody is allowed to sell anything on the side of the road on the Queen's Birthday. No permit required and no taxes need to be paid. There is a lot of junk for sale!

And then you get stalls like this one...

Of course we are in Amsterdam so those cookies could have anything in them. My guess is that not too many people finish four cookies in a minute. 

Back to the task at hand: find the concert arena. If the crowd are starting to wonder all over the place (something to do with the cookies maybe?), then follow the signs. 

Just watch out for the dancing Hari Krishna's when crossing the road.

And we are back on track.

Of course some people will never make it to the arena. That is just the way life is.

And finally I made it!

This first act is not bad. A few english songs and a beat that gets your feet tapping. Although I am sure I have seen that hat somewhere before. Could that be David Kramer? Surely not!

Next up was this okie. For a brief moment I closed my eyes and was convinced that Kurt Darren had entered the stage. And then the crown started singing along. I'm not sure that I am ready for this!

Kurt Darren the second was followed by a dutch rap trio. I'm not a rap fan by any means, but these guys did a good job of making other rap artists sound really good! A few more acts and I knew that it was time to move on. So I ditched the concert arena and went in search of chicks to take photos of.

Much better! Time to carry on exploring Amsterdam, after all, the whole city is transformed into one big festival.

By now the canals were getting really busy. Think rush hour.

The music was thumping here. Every boat had a sound system that was trying to outdo the boats around it. This music was far better than what I had just come from. But even when a boat did play something a little less than kosher, it didn't matter because 10 seconds later you were listening to the music from the next boat. 

And yes there were lots of people taking in the vibe.

Leaving the canals I came across a few other parties...

And ultimately realised that nobody is able to escape the festivities that are part of Koninginnedag.

At the end of the day, heading home on the train, I felt that the day had been a good one. Others on the train might have been feeling a little less sure of that and perhaps felt that they were taking this ride home instead.

But I was feeling strong and decided that the next day would be spent cycling through the tulip fields.

CYCLING THROUGH THE TULIP FIELDS

And that is exactly what I did today. I headed by train to the Bollenstreek. It is a 30 km stretch between Haarlem and Leiden and is home to Keukenhof (which you may remember from previous blog posts). Having been to Keukenhof last week and seen how great the fields were looking, I decided it was time to see them up close. So I rented a bike, got a map showing me the way through the fields and to the coastline. It had been a while since I had seen the sea and was starting to feel the withdrawal symptoms. 

The first part of my adventure involved getting a bike. Since the Bollenstreek area is such a big tourist destination, hiring a bike is quite easy. I was given a gents bike. This is not too different from a ladies bike, except maybe slightly bigger? And a ladies bike is not very different to a 'ouma fiets'. Now an ouma fiets is unlike anything you will have seen in South Africa. It generally has one gear and you sit as if you are sitting down for tea. It is not for racing! That said, I made my way out on my 25 km route with map in hand. 

The first few fields were really not worth writing home about.

Pretty, but not the fields and fields of tulips that I had seen a week earlier. Carrying on, I came across a lake...

and then a small airfield with a glider about to take off.

Carrying on a bit further, I saw a few more fields, but still not post card stuff.

At this stage the beach was calling. The problem though was that the map seemed to be missing quite a few roads, and road names, and important details like land marks. But the ride was fun and I carried on and came across this field.

Way more impressive than anything else I had seen today, but I was now only 1km from being back at where I started and I still hadn't seen the sea.

I decided to give it another go. Back on the bike I headed out again. According to the map, I had covered the 25 km, but somehow missed the turn-off to the beach. For a while it was looking good, and then I reached the Free State border post (at least that is the way I read this sign), and I had that feeling of 'Dis niet lekker'. 

But this is the Netherlands and not South Africa, and even if you do manage to find yourself in the Free State here, your guaranteed to be within a stones through of the coastline (I think it has something to do with the fact that the whole country is no more than 300km by 300km). And then I found it...

. 

And it was great! Windy, but great!

The adventure was a good one, but now it was time to head home for a beer.

And to write this blog, which is thirsty work by the way.

And so to answer the original question: YES! I survived Queen's Day, I survived Queen's weekend, and I'm looking forward to doing it all again next year.