Queen's Day

I completely forgot to write about Queens Day. I was organizing some photos on our computer so that's what made me realize it. I figured this was a post worth sharing since it gives our readers some more insight into the culture here. 


Queen's Day is known as " Koninginnedag, since in dutch queen is  "koningin" and day is "dag" yes....they tend to run their words together. This holiday is celebrated on April 30th (the 29th if the 30th falls on a Sunday). Koninginnedag is Queen Beatrix's  official celebration day. Although the children here have off from school that's about all it has in common with the day we use to celebrate our ruler...."President's Day".  Queen Beatrix was born on January 31st, however the holiday is observed on April 30th because that was the birthday of her mother and predecessor.  Many of the traditional activities are held outside, and observing the holiday in April makes for better weather.

Both Doug and I agree that Koninginnedag is more like our 4th of July celebration. Everyone hangs the Netherlands flag outside their house. There are parades in different towns and usually fireworks at night. Everyone barbeques and  their are nationwide vrijmarkts ("free market" or flea markets), where many Dutch people sell their secondhand items. It is also an opportunity for "orange madness". Everyone dresses from head to toe in bright orange for the national color. We both dressed in what we had for orange shirts and Ella wore her free shirt that came with the Pampers we bought. 

We tried to get into the spirit of the holiday and spent some time downtown.  Since we knew parking is limited to begin with, we took our bikes and Ella's buggy. Apparently Ella needed a rest before our busy afternoon out. 

 We enjoyed the food from some different vendors and Ella loved the baby ducks cooling off in the fountain. At first she was just drawn to the fountain. Her love of fountains grew during our trip to Rome.