Queensday - Koninginnedag, Amsterdam

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“Citizens and social organizations in the Netherlands have proven through the years that they can absorb great changes in the world and our own society.”
— Her Majesty Beatrix, Queen of The Netherlands (1938- )

CHANGES, BUT EVERYONE LOVES A PARTY Koninginnedag, Queen’s Day, is a national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Celebrated April 30th, Koninginnedag is the official observation of Queen Beatrix’s birthday. Although she was born on January 31st, it is observed in April when fairer weather is likely for out-of-doors festivities.

Our first stop of the day was to visit Her Majesty the Queen (see photo #1); she meant to wear the hat on my head to Prince William’s wedding the day before, but she was not invited — her son was, so she lent it to me!

The annual celebration of Queen’s Day began in 1885, as a birthday party for 5-year-old Princess Wilhelmina, born on August 31st. Because she was the only surviving child of King Willem III, Wilhelmina became queen a week after her 18th birthday in 1898. After her coronation, August 31st became a national holiday known as the Queen’s Birthday.

Queen Wilhelmina ruled for 50 years, abdicating in 1948 in favor of her only child, Princess Juliana, whose birthday was April 30th. After Juliana became queen, the Queen’s Birthday celebration was shifted to the spring for the next 32 years.

In 1980, Queen Juliana abdicated in favor of the oldest of her four daughters, Princess Beatrix. In her coronation speech, Queen Beatrix announced that in honor of her mother, the national holiday would continue to be celebrated on April 30th and that it would be renamed Queen’s Day.

God save the Queen!

If you have a change to visit Amsterdam on 30th April (or even 29th), then do so.

On 30th April the whole country goes crazy because of queen's (or actually queen's mother's) birthday.
Amsterdam is packed with people walking and dancing on the streets - and having fun in general. Music is played all around the city centre, by the locals and also in free concerts. People have right to have free street sales on that day, so there are lots of things for sale.

Partying actually starts on the previous evening. And I regret for a little bit, because I didn't check out the evening and night parties.

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This has gotta' be the biggest party on the face of the earth.
Although Mardi Gras and Carnivale are huge events, they still only take place in New Orleans & Rio de Janeiro.

The Partying actually gets started on the evening of April 29th, with Queens Day proper beginning on April 30th. It's suppose to be in celebration of the Queens Birthday, except that the current Queens birthday is in the dead of winter, so they celebrate the former Queens birthday.

Queens Day is celebrated on a grand scale throughout The Netherlands, it's just that Amsterdam seems to be "Party Central". The biggest National & International acts perform at a huge stage set up on the Museumplein, while at another dozen or more stages throughout the center, live entertainment have the masses dancing in the streets.
If this wasn't enough, the canals are jammed with party boats, loaded to the max with orange clad partiers, DJ's & large sound systems - blaring techno/trance music that can be heard blocks away.

And through it all there's the "Free Market" which is quite literally, a nationwide yard/garage/rummage/boot (or whatever you call it in your neck of the woods) sale.


Our particular Queens Night/Queens Day activities went something like this:
Our official start was a meet up with friends at the 'Last Waterhole' in the Leidseplein;
some jenevier tasting at Wynand Focking; walk around the RLD & Dam Square (where a full fledge 'carnival' was going on); overcrowded tram (where a pickpocket got nothing more than a hotel keycard) back to the Leidseplein for the crowds & stage activities in the main square & over at the Max Euweplein.
I'm told that the club parties go on until 4 or 5 in the morning, but we called it an early night at about 1am and retired to our hotel.

Queens day proper started right outside the Hilton's doors where the 'Free market' was already in progress. Spread out for several blocks in both directions, was a flea market of epic proportions. This included a group of young teens playing rock music as an accompaniment. Joan couldn't help herself, and we had to return her 'findings' to our hotel room before we set off any further.
After unloading, we headed directly for the Vondel Park to see what the kids had in store. The park (and the Nieuwmarkt) are set aside for kid activities. Vondel Park specifically, is where you'll find the young entrepreneurs of Amsterdam - selling various baked goods & refreshments, playing music & other performances & stunts to earn a Euro or two.

From here we made the long walk to our friends houseboat on the Korte Prinsengracht. Along the way music blaring from the streets and canals, & all sorts of items being offered for sale along the streets.
We spent a good part of the day atop our friends houseboat watching the parade of party boats make their way up the canal. We felt kinda' privileged to have our 'front row' seats, away from the crowds lining the streets and bridges.

By early evening it was off to another houseboat party already in progress over on the Nieuwe Keizersgracht. Good company, party 'favours', & munchies made for an ideal setting to wind down the days activities...
...caught a tram early, got off at the Museumplein, and found the days activities weren't quite over. The big concert was still going on with 'Kane' on stage.
We stayed for a couple songs and walked on back to the Hilton, where we could seethe closing act, David Guetta (in the distance), & fireworks (in the suburbs), from our room.

We had the best of times & I for one hope to make another Queens Day or two before I die.

Do a search on youtube.com for 'Queens Day' or 'koninginnedag' to feast your eyes on the party.

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I do not think we have anything like this in the US. This has to be one of the biggest parties held in the world every year. Amsterdam's celebration tends to attract so many people that it can make getting around a bit difficult but at the same time the energy and excitment in the town is unmatched. I've been every years since 01' and will probably go back in 08' etc...
Since by the end of the day everyone is a little burnt out on drinking and other forms of consumption the real night activites start the night before on the Eve. Asside from the massive crowds you will find plenty of live music, cheap food and beer, and maybe a new friend or two. The canals are so jammed with partiers that on some canals you can walk accross them from boat to boat.
If you are looking to have fun in Europe then this is one event that should not be missed.

First of all I have to admit that I was slightly sceptic about this day everyone told me is the biggest party of the year in Holland.

My cousin talked me into visiting Holland on time for the koniginnedag. Still I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy a day in the middle of thousands of people in a city I had never been to and where soft drugs are being sold legally … (being German the thought of drugs being legal is very strange).

Arriving at Amsterdam main station for the first time ever with thousands of people we immediately got into a party mood. All those people were walking in one direction and we just had to go with the flow. It doesn't really matter where you go anyway. Amsterdam basically is a huge party and people are singing, partying and mainly drinking.

We started off with a beer but soon realized that beer wasn’t the drink to be for us - the need for a loo is just too frequent taking into consideration that going to the loo means long queues (and I really mean long queues) everywhere. For girls it’s not as easy as for boys (no news I guess). The funniest thing are the toilets in the middle of the streets when there are no trees around (or trees that you don’t want to be used as toilets). Useful really!

Found a tiny pub (don't ask where ...) that had fun music and fun people. Started to drink Jaegermeister and stuck with it for the rest of the day. Oh boy! The guys at the bar didn’t need our order we just made signs and got another round of Jaegermeister. We do not recall how many Jaegermeister we had but that was the only drink we had all afternoon and night. I don’t even remember us eating anything at all.

Ended the night in a pub at Zandvoort. The only one I can think of that didn’t sell Jaegermeister. Got chatted up and invited for a whiskey coke though – not that bad for a change …

Do I need to tell you more? We did have blast – THANK YOU DUTCH PEOPLE FOR A LOVELY KONIGINNEDAG 2006!

(I'll attach some pictures later on)

QUEEN FOR A DAY!

Where else in the world can you get away with wearing orange *AND* a goofy vinyl hat? Yes that's me: Queen Kim - taken on Koninginnedag day (April 30) in Amsterdam! I may not travel in the same circles as Dutch royalty, but I just *had* to buy one of those goofy crowns!

The Dutch royal family is the House of Oranje-Nassau and orange is the royal color (and favorite color) of the Netherlands. So EVERYONE wears orange on this day: orange clothes, orange shoes, orange balloons, orange streamers, orange face & body paint, orange scarves, sunglasses, orange bow ties, etc, etc.. ALL are de rigeur for that day!

So yes, I just *HAD* to purchase an orange crown to wear. I had seen several women
wearing them and it looked like fun. As we walked through the crowds, I felt truly regal,
as I realized that people were looking at me and saying things like: "There goes the queen", "Beatrix.. ! Beatrix!" (well, ok.. not really, but it was fun nevertheless!)

Yes folks, this is *THEE* day - the DAY of DAYS - the day you WANT to be in Amsterdam, to partake in all the glorious festivities and merrymaking..

Have fun!

GELUKKIG KONINGINNENDAG !!

April 30 - Amsterdam

You definately want to be in Amsterdam on THIS day!! It's one of the biggest holidays in the Netherlands. It's kind of like Canada Day, the USA's July 4th, and New Orlean's Mardi Gras - all rolled into one!

On Koninginnedag (APRIL 30) the entire country – especially Amsterdam – turns into one giant flea market. Early in the morning, millions of closets are cleaned out and dumped onto the sidewalks in front of apartment buildings and homes.

Koninginnedag is also declared as free market day. Everyone - including all bars and restaurant takings are tax-free for the day. People raid their grandmother's closets, and poke around in their attics, gather up old house items, stake out a spot on the sidewalk in the center of town and have a HUUUGE flea-market/garage/sidewalk sale.
It's *FAN-TAS*TIC*!! It is particularly big with children. I heard of children making 200 - 300 euros in a day !!

As a sidenote: April 30th isn’t even Queen Beatrix's date of birth; (she was born January 31st).
April 30th is actually the birth date of her mother: Queen Juliana. But Beatrix, in typical
Dutch sensibility and pragmatism, kept the April 30th date as the official day of celebration for the Queen’s Birthday because the weather is much warmer and drier at the end of April than at the end of January.

So if you’re lucky enough to be in The Netherlands for Queen’s Day, be sure to take a get up early on Queen's day, and stroll the sidewalks of the smaller, suburbs and districts of Amsterdam. See what little treasures and souvenirs you will find to take home with you. .

I snapped this picture as I was roaming the streets of Amsterdam that day, and I came across this band of merrily dressed musicians...

What FUN!!!

The day before Queen`s day can be as exciting as the day after. In some neighbourhoods (Watergraafsmeer i.e.) the tradition is to make evening party with opera, jazz and folk songs. It is so entertaining that even if you are not dutch I bet you find yourself singing joyful Amsterdamse songs and dancing all over with them.