I had no idea when I agreed to speak in the Netherlands that I would be staying over for Queen's Day. What an experience! All of the streets into the city are closed and no cars are allowed in until the end of the day. The streets are packed full of people dressed in orange, celebrating the Queen's birthday. All shops and museums are closed and it is an amazing holiday! Below is my first step outside to this crazy party (I had a drink within 5 minutes...how does that happen?). I bought an orange shirt to make sure I fit into the mix.
As was mentioned the streets were very crazy. So many people made me a tad nervous (I am not a big fan of large crowds) - but nearly everyone was very courteous and it seemed very safe.
The canals were very busy with all of the party boats - absolutely amazing! The pictures below are of one of the canals...it is a truly amazing sight!
The local fire department was giving rides on their trucks with ladders - here is yours truly going up very high above the city! Notice the crazy guy next to me with the beer guzzle hat? Oh my!
here I am alllllllllll the way up in the sky! The only place where there are not thousands of people around is in up in the air!
Yikes!!!
If you ever have a chance to visit Amsterdam during Queen's Day I highly recommend it - I know that I will never forget the experience...
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