Koninginnedag, Dodenherdenking, Bevrijdingsdag

This past Friday was Koninginnedag, Queen's Day. It's a HUGE holiday in the Netherlands. It commemorates the queen's birthday, although it's actually the last queen's birthday. The current queen was born in January, when it's not as fun to party outside. On Queen's Day, literally millions of people come to Amsterdam. The whole city is full of people wearing orange. It is the one day of the year when everyone is allowed to sell stuff on the street without a permit, so some parts of the city are like a giant yard sale. The rest of the city is like a giant club. There are people in the streets and on boats on the canals. Random DJs are set up everywhere. There are many stages all over the city with cover bands, traditional Dutch music, and exciting DJs.

I started the day alone. It was rainy out, so I went to Dam Square even though it's supposed to be crazy crowded. Then the sun came out, and it got crazy crowded. :-p

After a couple hours of wandering and taking pictures, I met up with my friend, Krystal. We hung out around the Dam, and went on the ferris wheel. We tried to meet up with some other people, but we couldn't find them in the crowd. Then we found different friends. Then we left them. We did lots of wandering and sight-seeing. We went to Leidseplein for a while which was crazy, and made our way to Museumplein as the concert there was dying down. I ate so much junk food. It was great! Definitely a cool Dutch experience.

The city did get really dirty though. It was kind of gross. And drunk. But very fun.

Yesterday was Dodenherdenking, Memorial Day. It commemorates all of the Dutch civilians and soldiers who have died in wars or peacekeeping missions since the outbreak of WWII. Every year, the Queen and other esteemed guests gather in Dam Square in Amsterdam for ceremonies and 2 minutes of silence. I fell asleep and missed it. But look what happened this year:



For those of you who don't speak Dutch, basically all the stampeding was caused by some jerk who shouted something during the 2 minutes of silence. He's been arrested. There was also some guy who dropped a suitcase, but I guess they're saying he wasn't in on it now.

Today is Bevrijdingsdag, Liberation Day. It marks the end of the occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II. There are big festivities in Haarlem and other places, but I'm staying home to do homework. I know. I'm boring. But yay for liberation!