Happy Queen's Day everyone! We had a great day celebrating the Queen last Thursday, April 30th. We woke up that morning, had breakfast, geared up in orange, and were on our way to the Melkhuis in Vondelpark to meet some friends at 10 a.m. The Melkhuis has a children's playground, and as soon as Ben spotted the swings, his feet didn't touch the ground for an hour!! Sweet little Amelie joined him for a bit, and her Pooh was a Queen's Day purchase from about 5 minutes before, and she didn't let him go!
Around 11:30, the playground was getting pretty full of families. So, it was time to head out into the park to see what bargains we could find. If you remember from last year, there are also lots of children performing. We saw Chinese dancers, acrobats, drummers, and more. I'm not really sure that having eggs tossed at your face is a "talent", but whatever brings in the euro, right? :) We walked with our friends, the Tusts, for quite a while as we shopped. We found a Little Tykes tool bench for Ben...I think it may be missing a tool or two and probably a screw, but it was only 3 euro. And, it came with a cookie, so I don't think Ben even noticed the tool bench until we got home. We made one other purchase...you'll see that later. Ben was all shopped out by about 1 p.m. (as you can see), so we made our way back home for a little R&R before QD Round #2!!
Around 3 p.m., we ventured out again, this time in the city center and Jordaan areas. It was a gorgeous day, so I switched my tennis shoes for my orange sandals (courtesy of Betsy and Ann Taylor Loft). :) A much nicer day than last year, which explains why there were 3 times as many people out and about - everyone looking quite festive, I want this crazy hat! We loved just walking around and seeing all that was going on...tons of boats on the canals.
We made our way around to the Westermarkt square, specifically to get some french fries with ketchup and mayo from our fry guy...our little Queen's Day tradition. I asked Ben to look at Mommy for this picture, but there was no way he was taking his eyes off those fries!! After our snack, we started to work our way up the Prinsengracht back home. We stopped again to watch the boats and soak up the atmosphere. Wish you could get all the other senses besides just the sights...music is blaring, lots of yummy smells from the food stands. Ben stood up in his stroller to get a better look at the boats, and apparently his sippy cup was in his lap - because it went overboard into the canal. Uh oh!! Greg and I (and the people standing around us) started to giggle, but to Ben, it was no laughing matter. He started screaming for his "red cup", so we waved goodbye to the cup and left in a hurry.
It took us almost an hour to weave our way through the people to get home from the Westerkerk - which usually takes 15-20 minutes! We were pretty wiped and hungry, so we grilled some burgers on the patio while Ben enjoyed "riding" his new tricycle (retails for 50-60 euro, we got it for 15 euro - we love Queen's Day!). To me, it looks more like a glorified big wheel, right? Ben liked spinning the pedals with his hands (we'll have to work on getting him to understand the pedals are for his feet) and the bike even came complete with obnoxious Dutch bike bell! Hilarious!! We had a fabulous, fun day and plan to bring the festivities home with us. Who's up for a Queen's Day 2010 party at Chez Zabikow?? Start looking for some orange to wear and some junk to sell. :)
PS - Later that evening, we saw on the news that there was an attack on the Dutch Royal Family during a parade in Apeldoorn (about 45 miles east of Amsterdam). The Royal Family was riding in an open-air bus for the Queen's Day festivities when a black car drove through the crowd to try and hit the bus. The driver of the car did not succeed in reaching the bus, but at least 7 people died, including the driver, as a result of this attack. Very, very sad. A number of scheduled events were cancelled in other cities around the country in honor of the victims. I also read an article saying that this may cause the Royal Family to rethink how open they are with the "common folk". They regularly ride their bikes down the canals, go shopping in department stores, etc. without any type of security. The Dutch people are very shocked by this attack, as these acts of senseless violence just don't seem to happen here. Feels kind of like a loss of innocence...
No comments:
Post a Comment