Like every year, on April the 30th we celebrated the Queen's birthday this week. Actually it is
her mother's birthday, because the current queen didn't want to change the day
when she became queen. The whole country turns orange, everyone raises the Dutch flag and like
everybody in the States and Ireland wears green on St. Patrick's day, we wear orange on Queensday.
Orange because that is the color of the Dutch Royal family, it is even their last name.Actually Queensday starts on the 29th, with great parties in all the cities. There is live music on the streets, in Den-Haag (The Hague) we have the anual Blues night, with bands from all over the world. The city is closed for traffic and all the streets are filled with people partying. When the bars in Den-Haag start to close early in the morning, most people take a train to Amsterdam to go on there.
By the way, something totaly different now, if you would like to find addresses or telephone numbers of people you know in Holland, or if you would just like to find out if you have some far relatives living in for example Amsterdam the Dutch telephone-book is now on-line. However it is in Dutch so let me help you out here;
Greetings from Holland !
or the one that is lost in Salisbury |
If you ever want to see Amsterdam in a very special way, the 30th of april is the best day to go there. There is
something going on everywhere. Although Queensday is celebrated in all the cities there is no city where the party is so gigantic as in Amsterdam. You will have to be early though because there is absolutely no way to get into the city after noon.