In a stroke of fortuitous timing, we happened to be in Holland for Koninginnedag. Koninginnedag is a public holiday for the Queens birthday and is marked across Holland with street parties and special markets. This year was extra special as the Queen had abdicated and on this day her son, Prince Willy would be crowned King!
We were in two minds about either staying local in Sloten or heading into the centre of Amsterdam to be part of the crowning festivities. Claudia and Guido advised against going into central Amsterdam as the crowning would just be a lot of waiting around for nothing. Also my father in law was warning us against the potential for a lone bomber (Boston style). With those two very good reasons we decided to stay local and enjoy the day with people we know.
The normal quiet Sloten was 'abuzz' with a street market, full of people selling their second hand goods, homemade food and also some street games. There was also some pedal go karts for the children and lots of people sitting in their gardens enjoying the street party.
Being the kind of small community that Sloten is, Claudia and Guido can't go two steps with someone they know stopping them and starting a conversation. This makes getting around quite a slow process.
We were in two minds about either staying local in Sloten or heading into the centre of Amsterdam to be part of the crowning festivities. Claudia and Guido advised against going into central Amsterdam as the crowning would just be a lot of waiting around for nothing. Also my father in law was warning us against the potential for a lone bomber (Boston style). With those two very good reasons we decided to stay local and enjoy the day with people we know.
The normal quiet Sloten was 'abuzz' with a street market, full of people selling their second hand goods, homemade food and also some street games. There was also some pedal go karts for the children and lots of people sitting in their gardens enjoying the street party.
Being the kind of small community that Sloten is, Claudia and Guido can't go two steps with someone they know stopping them and starting a conversation. This makes getting around quite a slow process.
After enjoying the street party for a while, we went back inside to watch the crowning ceremony on TV. This was very boring and from the shots of outside we were glad we hadn't bothered to go. The royals only made brief outside appearances and everything else took place inside a church.
We watched the ceremony for a couple of hours and the guy never even got crowned. What a rip!
With that anticlimactic ceremony we went out to enjoy phase two of the street party. In the evening the markets get cleared away and a few bands start playing and people start drinking.
We watched as a guy who had just bought a full tray of beers stumbled at the last step and spilt the whole lot. Out of concern for the man the whole crowd and all his friends laughed at him, made fun of him and then sent him back to get more.
As he came back for his second attempt, his thirsty mates formed an honour guard around him until he landed the fresh batch of beers on the table. Relief all around.
This party continued on into the late night. We retired early and could hear it all for hours from our Town house. All these people had to go to work the next day...not us :)
No comments:
Post a Comment