Long Live the Queen!!

I consider my first Queen’s day a success. I survived Queen’s night and had a blast. It was my first time to ever be going out alone and it wasn’t that bad. I don’t know if I’ll make a habit of it, but it proves that I can do it and I won’t die. I ended up staying out till about 4 am and I wore heels. I haven’t worn heels in months so it was a bit of a shock on my feet. My poor feet are still recovering and they are tender to walk on. I remember why I stopped wearing heels and found most reasons not to wear them. I also made a friend and she offered to take me out to the tulip fields for pictures. She is a photographer so we will have to see how this develops!

On Friday, Queen’s day, I was supposed to meet some friends in Amsterdam at Museumplein and listen to their great line up of live music. Well, due to my late night on Thursday I wasn’t exactly up bright and early. By the time I did get going, around 3 in the afternoon, the celebration was in full swing. I made my way to the train station taking in all the crazyness around me. I bought my ticket and only after I spent the 7 Euros I figure out that the Amsterdam train station is closed because people are walking on the tracks. The only bright side of this situation is that I got stranded on the side where I live. I find out later that my friends/coworkers who made it to Amsterdam had to walk 1.5 hrs before they found an a way to get back home. So after the train station was a bust (it was also surrounded by police which made me slightly nervous) I decided to wonder my way back to the Grote Markt. There were people everywhere!! It was wild! On every street, around every corner was a DJ set up and people dancing. Some areas were a little more “Dutch” than others…as in living up to Dutch stereotypes…and others were more laid back. There was a live 80’s cover band playing outside of one of the local bars here and that was a fun. They were very lively and had several costume changes. The downside, it was also terribly popular and one could hardly walk through the crowd. I’m not a big fan of huge crowds so it was almost claustrophobic.

I alternated between a few areas, doing laps and checking out the crowds and people watching. Everyone is decked out in orange. It alternated between full entire orange outfits or orange accessories. I saw several people with cute little orange crowns and I wanted to find myself one, but never did. I guess I will just have to come back! I also decided that Tabatha, Karla, and I might have to come a back one year and call it our birthday/after tax season trip. I think it would be a perfect occasion to celebrate with the queen. We’ll also have to be sure to get to Amsterdam before everything closes up!

I ventured out into the town on Saturday and it looked like nothing had happened. I was amazed. On Friday the streets were trashed!! Everyone served beer in plastic cups so they were blowing around all over. The streets were also lined with people selling all of their old junk for cheap prices. I didn’t go shopping but I’m sure you could find some great things if you were looking. On Saturday, though, it looked amazing and clean. They must have some amazing street cleaners. I will admire that about Europe, their streets are clean.

So that is a recap of my first Queen’s day ever. I survived, and plan on doing it at least one more time in my life! It was too fun to not take advantage of it again.