Orange, Orange, Orange

Queens Day, by all means EPIC.

April 30th commemorates the birthday of the former Queen of the Netherlands, Beatrix, and for some reason it also provides justification for a national holiday with: minimal governmental regulation (thereby allowing anybody to sell virtually anything anywhere--minus drugs and things of the like), endless boats streaming through the canals, unprompted dancing in the streets (no exaggeration), and every shade of orange you can imagine to be worn, held, and shown.

The day technically starts the night before under the heading of Queen's Night. That night actually happened to be a (Dutch) friend's birthday, so we headed over to his place (quite late, even for my standards) where the festivities began. Afterward we took to the streets which were bombarded with people drinking and generally gallivanting, all in the name of the Queen of course.
I ran into the Spanish who had conveniently positioned themselves along a major canal so that they were easy to spot (though they generally are, being that the girls are all 5 feet, tiny, and in the state of constant dance and the men always happen to be laughing for no particular reason). Meeting them was the highlight of the night (they're such fun people, I highly recommend a Spanish posse--though one that you only see occasionally, they'll run you down with their stamina for dance, alcohol, and general merriment).

The next day we headed to the boat, at 11 in the morning! It may not seem like much of a task but after the night before, it wasn't exactly easy. Also, drinking early isn't all that appealing. However, the boat was the best idea! Again, it was a boat usurped by the Spanish for which all the non-Spanish were grateful. We were easily one of the loudest boats to pass through the canals but b/c of the theme of the day, it only seemed fitting.

After the boat we ended up at Angela's (another friend, actually a coach) apartment where a dance party spontaneously occurred and news of the current Queen's assassination attempt hit. The information caused a few waves (and shivers) but not serious or long enough to prevent us from continuing. We left Angela's in the direction of Museumplein (where some of the biggest festivities were occurring) only to be distracted by another impromptu dance party, this time in the street. That was probably the highlight of that day--the unfiltered excitement in the streets was amazing! Once we headed towards Museumplein we got caught in the worst human traffic I've ever been a part of (sardines, literally sardines). Once we made it out of there we ended up in Vondelpark (again, still not at Museumplein), crashing onto the grass to regain some semblance of energy.

By the time we got to Museumplein, the day's activities had come to a close. Apparently the Queen's assassination attempt had put a hold on the rest of the planned events (Tiesto finished much earlier than expected). It was not a big deal though, the day had been long enough.