If you’ve been in Amsterdam to celebrate King’s Day, you’ll know it’s an experience if ever there was one!
I had the pleasure a few years ago when I stayed with my best friend, Chris, at his home in Rotterdam.
King’s Day, or Koningsdag, is celebrated on 27th April to mark the birthday of King Willem-Alexander and it happens all over the Netherlands. People dress in orange – the colour of the Dutch royal family – and there are street parties up and down the country. Chris had bought me a small orange hat to wear – he, in his ever extravagant fashion, wore an orange bunting around his neck!
We took the train to Amsterdam along with plenty of others making their way there to celebrate the day. Amsterdam is busy at the best of times, but the streets were heaving with people everywhere. We were making our may to meet up with some of Chris’ friends who lived in the city.
Along the streets there were pop up bars and food stalls, the atmosphere was fabulous.
Once we’d met up with Chris’ friends, we stayed with them for a while enjoying the music and dancing on the street.
We walked around the city some more and joined in with all the street parties that were going on.
Everywhere you looked, there were friends all together enjoying the party atmosphere. There were even parties on the passing boats.
It was so much fun!
King’s Day is not just about celebrating the king’s birthday, it’s about different people coming together in harmony – being with friends and loved ones, having fun together and making memories. There was a lot of laughter and music to lift the soul and, let’s be real, everyone could do with a bit of soul lifting now and again – and this is the perfect day to do that!
Peace and Love, G x
