Koninginnedag!

I must preface this post by saying that words cannot do Konninginnedag justice. To fully appreciate this holiday, you must experience it.

I set out early, just to get a feel of how Queen's Day begins. Early here is considered 8AM, since most workdays don't begin until 9 or 10. I noticed that some neighbors had raised flags with orange bunting streaming down. I walked to Beethovenstraat and there were tables with wares lining the street. It was rather quiet and reminded me of a flea market at early morning. I found some Duplo blocs and went home. At this point, things were just getting started.


At 10, we started on Stadionweg and picked up some books and puzzles for Liliane almost immediately. I also bought a kitschy Queen's Day mug from the 1980 Queen's Day. By now, the sidewalks had crowded and we slowly made our way to Beethovenstraat, which is a main shopping street. We worked our way up and it was quite jammed. Many people (old and young) had streaked their hair orange. Since dogs are part of any family, this went for the dogs as well.



We continued to Apollolaan where the scene repeated itself, just with more people. There were brilliantly orange-clad people gathering around a coffee vendor, swilling coffee together. To me, this epitomized the gezellig feeling this holiday brings. People had already begun commenting on Amelie and would stop to take her picture. She was wearing her Jack O'Lantern Halloween costume, but with the face disguised by the Baby Bjorn, she had become a "wortelje" (little carrot). By the end of the day, among tens of comments and photos regarding Amelie's carrotness, only two people (both American) would have correctly identified her as a pumpkin.
our wortelje

We crossed a bridge on our way to Vondelpark. This is where we spotted the first party boat of the day. A pretty big boat was cruising down the canal blaring 70s music and people already reveling. Before we entered Vondelpark, we stopped by the table of a friend to say hello. Our friend's daughter was painting faces for 50c, so Liliane got a butterfly with Dutch national colors (blue, red, white). There is a Dutch verb that is pretty specific to facepainting - "schminken."
Liliane beschminked

We got to Vondelpark at about 12:30. Everyone had told us that Vondelpark was for the children. And it was. Kids lined both sides of the paths throughout the park. Most were selling all sorts of toys. One common event for the kids was "grabbelen" - a grab bag. Others were face painting, playing musical instruments, hosting games. One of the most interesting games I saw was Smurf Roulette. One unlucky violinist had reserved her space right next to three trumpeteers. She simply couldn't compete, yet continued to persist even during the boys' rendition of "The Flintstones." We made our way out of Vondelpark to the Leidseplein area. The music there was quite loud and Liliane was covering her ears, so we went back to Vondelpark.


We decided to eat lunch, but the lines were quite long. The girls had plenty of food, so it was just Dan and me who suffered. We brought Liliane to one of the playgrounds in the park and she was happy to play for about 45 minutes. The we continued our odyssey circling almost the entire park. We located a Vietnamese spring roll stand where we finally got to eat. At this point it was about 4:00. We thought we would probably head on home. Then we got a call from some friends. They had gotten a late start because they'd been out partying the night before, but were now in the park.

We hooked up with our friends in the park. Right when they joined us, some girls in green body paint had set up shop on a blanket. One made a pretend phone call on a plastic phone and said something about an acrobatics show. Soon, a guru-type person (also green) began playing a gong-like instrument and the girls began a routine that reminded me of all the tumbling stations we did in 7th grade gym class. A huge crowd then gathered around us to watch.


After the spectacle, our friends suggested we go to the Jordaan. We walked up the Prinsengracht and were greeted by house music emitting from the numberless party boats wending their way down the canal. The din from the music was incredible. People on the boats were drinking and dancing. Some were clad in white yachting sweaters with blue and red pinstripes at the neck, others were entirely orange. The short video I've attached does not even begin to convey the music that enveloped us. What I thought was important about the music and this holiday is that everyone could hear the music and so everyone was having a common experience and it made celebrating together somewhat meaningful. I thought it really lent itself to the gezellig concept.



The Prinsengracht and its people







A few eateries had set up on the street, so Dan and I finally got to eat some hearty food. Our first was ham broodje, our second was chicken sate. We also bought a glass of wine. We had to pay an extra euro ($1.60 or so) as a deposit on the plastic cup. This seemed to be an effective incentive since I didn't notice a lot of discarded cups on the ground (although there was pretty much everything else). I also saw someone who had collected numerous cups.




Some damn goodlooking people!

After weaving down Prinsengracht, we walked over to the Marie Heinekenplein in the Pijp area. Of course there were throngs of people waiting for a concert to begin, which it did while we were there. While there, I felt the strongest winds I've yet to feel out here - almost as strong as Chicago.



At that point it was about 8PM and we decided to head home. On our way down Albert Cuypstraat towards home, Dan spotted - what else - some more graffiti by Laser. Of course I took a picture. How could the day be more complete?



If I get a chance, I'll post a Google Map of our route with some pix.

Probably the orangest people we saw



Vondelpark Revelers



Vondelpark Musicians

The Birthday Party

Saturday, the 23rd, was the day after Dan's birthday. We started off by going to the Albert Cuypmarkt, which is Amsterdam's largest general market. I had read that about 20,000 people visit it on weekdays and to double that number for weekends. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to find it rather uncrowded when we arrived there on Saturday morning at 10AM. Besides general market fare for sale, images that remain with me include tens of mannequin legs sporting all types of leggings and some X-rated garden gnomes. The only thing we bought were some olives for the party. We had hoped to eat Flemish French Fries, which are said to be the best, but the stand still hadn't opened by the time we left. I will definitely return, especially if the weather is as nice as it was on Saturday!

That evening, we put out a spread for Dan's party. It was small, but very gezellig. The guests were friends from work and our neighbors. A Dutch birthday party tradition is to put chairs into a circle. I ended up placing them along the walls, across from each other, since there only would have been room for a very exclusive circle, which would undermine the idea. I made Rice Krispie treats which came out a little differently than back home. The marshmallows were only available in pink and white mixed together. As a result, the treats were pink. They tasted a tad different - I couldn't figure out if they were just a little sweeter or if they tasted a little like strawberries. The cake we served was chocolate with chocolate whipped cream and raspberry filling. It was delicious! I tried to spell out "34" with the candles...

Ribs that nearly rival Cousin Donni's

Wednesday night we went out with some friends to a place called Cafe de Klos in Central Amsterdam. Dan and I each ordered ribs which came out expertly smoked. Click on this link for some in-depth pictures. The uniform was a black t-shirt depicting the menu. Our waiter/bartender had a really incredible wit, the kind that makes one feel so intellectually small in comparison. He was smoking, drinking coffee and generally having a good time. The smoking ban does not go into effect until July 1st, so it was strange to be in a smoky atmosphere after years of going out without it.

Cafe de Klos is a small place, with a U-shaped bar and whose walls are flanked with seating. It was very "gezellig." Gezellig is a word said to not be translatable into English, but which basically means a feeling of cozyness+. In retrospect, instead of entitling a past post "A Typical Dutch Day?", I should have entitled it, "A Typical Gezellig Day." Sorry about that digression. Anyway, Cafe de Klos was simply a good scene, with a dog present enjoying the ambiance, and with incredible ribs. If anyone comes to visit, we'll stop by!