5.01.2009

Queen's Day

April 30 is the Queen's birthday, and is observed as a national holiday. The city allows a "free market" day where anyone can sell things on the sidewalks without a permit. Some people use it for a yard sale, but there were crafts, food, etc. We had a great day and there were alot of people out and about. And everyone wears the national color: orange.




Stevie is sporting a nice peace shirt.

Lots of boats in the canals.


Some boats had DJ's spinning records or themes. We watched the action on the canals for a long time.




Traffic was at an all-time high.








This the background, there is a stage with the orange queen's crown on top. In the foreground is the toilet area, with tons of porta-potties.


This is the same area- the Mueseumplein grass area. It was just one gathering around the city with a stage for singers or DJ's. There were dozens of other smaller stages with huge crowds, although this was the biggest of crowds. We sitting up on a hill to check out the view. The crowds were pretty peaceful, although many were drunk by the afternoon. The queen was in another city in a parade. Some Dutch guy actually tried to drive a car into the whole royal family during the parade, and he killed 6 people. He died, too, so they didn't get to find out the motive.





The free market on the sidewalks.