Koninginnedag in Amsterdam

If it's true what some say and we live on after dying as angels, flying where ever we choose, Alfred Heineken must have hovered over the city of Amsterdam today, watching down with great satisfaction. What he saw was streets thronged with people most of which were carrying the trademark green cans of beer that carry his name.

Green and orange and a bit of sun is all we need to let our hair down and party

The baskadiyarlar-team prefers wine, but on a warm day, a glass of cold Grolsch pilsner is wonderful, Heineken is pretty lousy, especially when drunk warm, which is almost standard on a day like this.

Orange men, far less serious than the ones one sees marching in Belfast but just as noisy

We don't care for crowds much, and we're a bit scared of half drunk crowds, but in order to give our regular visitors from Trk, Mountain View and Wiesbaden a chance to see what is 'Koninginnedag' or Queensday in Amsterdam, we ventured out on this 30th of April 2010 to check out what is going on.

Reveller wearing a flag of Amsterdam

In brief: Queen Beatrix of Orange took over the throne from her mother on 30th of April 1980, a day remembered because of intense rioting by squatters and anarchists. This was clearly not a good start but during the following decade evolved Queensday from a fairly modest party, into a free street market, where everybody is free to take the old junk from the attic and sell it in the street. Over the years, the amount of food and drink stands increased along with venues where there are concerts and and other forms of loud music. Soon this hotbed of anti-monarchist rebellion became the capital of orange lovers from all over the country. Here we should not see this orange-crowd as monarchists per se, but as people who like to dress up funnily and party, like a carnival. Now, on a sunny day like today, several hundreds of thousands pour into Amsterdam drawn by free concerts, the free market, beer and snacks.

Visitors browsing the merchandise at a typical free market stand

We made a long stroll along several canals and through the Jordaan-district. Around 2 pm already many people seemed quite pissed, and so looked many parts of the city. By that time, most of the vending activity has ceased, and the stuff wasn't sold is just left in the street. On top of that there's cans, plastic plates and other junk, bottles and tons of other refuse. One should bear in mind that the night before Queensday is already a big party, and also that the garbage men are on strike, so you might be able to picture the mess we are in now and will be in for some time to come. The rats will have some field days this coming week.

Where it comes from and where it ends, in one picture

The architectonical gem which is the centre of Amsterdam is turned into one big fun fair, very commercial, noisy and dirty. Don't get us wrong, the huge crowd, it's alcohol and drug intake considering, the spirit was still nice enough, but it's just so messy and it pains us to see so many people just dropping their mess where ever they find themselves, pissing and puking where ever they fancy. They seem to spend a lot of money on their clothing, tattoos and piercings, but they don't seem to care much about the way our city looks.

On Koninginnedag, anyone can dress up and be a queen!

Amsterdam is looking for a new mayor. Mr. Cohen left this office vacant and aspires to be PM of Holland. It would be nice if it could be a person who dares to tune down this annual glorified Golden Showers in the streets. Back to the traditional games of koekhappen and versierde fietsen-parade. Talking about cycling, we have the start of the Giro d'Italia coming up! Hope all the mess will be cleared up before the start of that wonderful race.

Orange in the vegetal and animal world usually means 'poison, do not touch!'

The wonderful Zwanenkoor

The Jordaan used to be a working class district until a couple of decades ago. It's now home to yuppies mostly, but some of the culture of the indigenous remain, which is a love of opera and singing. The Zwanenkoor (swan choir) perfomed beautifully today.

The two vocal honcho's of the Zwanenkoor

Thronged street in the lovely Jordaan, Westerkerk in the background

A quiet moment on the Prinsengracht on Queensday

Over the last decade we saw the birth of a new upper class. Anyone who considers himself to be somebody, makes sure he or she has a place on board of a boat cruising the canals. On that boat there's a dj with a loud sound system s and plenty of friends really boozed and doped up, dancing and singing, expressing to the the commoners walking that they are so very common.

This city being Amsterdam, tons of weed are smoked. One guy can take no more.

Nice orchestra off duty