Sea of Orange - Koninginnedag

This is a panorama shot at one of the major canals in Amsterdam, Holland during the Queen's Day crazy celebrations. 

Koninginnedag or Queen's Day is a national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Celebrated on 30 April (the 29th if the 30th falls on a Sunday), Koninginnedag is Queen Beatrix's official birthday. Though Queen Beatrix was born on 31 January, the holiday is observed on 30 April as it was the birthday of her mother and predecessor, Juliana. Many of the traditional activities are held outside, and observing the holiday in April makes suitable weather more likely.

The holiday was first observed on 31 August 1885 as Prinsessedag or Princess's Day, the fifth birthday of Princess Wilhelmina, heiress to the Dutch throne. On her accession, the holiday acquired its present name, Koninginnedag. When held on 31 August the holiday was the final day of school summer vacation, leading to its popularity among children. Following the accession of Wilhelmina's daughter Queen Juliana in 1948, the holiday was moved to her birthday. Her daughter, Beatrix retained the celebration on 30 April after she took the throne in 1980. Beatrix altered her mother's custom of receiving a floral parade near a royal palace, instead choosing to visit different Dutch towns each year and join in the festivities. In 2009, the Queen was carrying out this custom in the town of Apeldoorn when a car was driven into a crowd surrounding the royal family's vehicle; seven people in the crowd were killed, and the car's driver also died soon afterwards.

Artistic Amsterdam

During the Queen's Day celebrations in central Amsterdam you see a multitude of street artists, musicians, exhibitionists, vendors, etc and it's a very colourful day to spend people watching. This image was captured  of a couple of street artists showing their products and looking chilled-out to say the least. Perhaps the copious beverages consumed during this national holiday helped in attaining this chilled-out composure. I loved all the strong, vibrant colours in this scene as well as the individual characters.

Koninginnedag (Queen's Day), Amsterdam

I was in Amsterdam last week on 30th April and experienced the extraordinary, crazy and bizarre party atmosphere of the Queen's Day celebration. The streets in central Amsterdam are all blocked off to traffic, that means no cars, no taxis, no trams and also no canal ferries. The streets are lined with stalls selling all manner of junk as well as a large variety of food and drink. The Dutch seem to focus very much on the latter activity and start drinking seriously from the early hours of the morning all through the day and into the evening. There are many small concerts and discos pumping out music all over adding to the party atmosphere. All in all it makes the Mardi Gras look like a children's tea party!

This video I took of some local musicians gives a small taste of the day's activities. I have other photos and video from some of the real crazy boat parties which I will post at a later date. I would love to find out who this duo are as the music they played was excellent .... anyone know who they are?

Koninginnedag or Queen's Day is a national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Celebrated on 30 April (or on the 29th if the 30th is a Sunday), Koninginnedag is the official birthday of Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands. Queen Beatrix's actual birthday is 31 January; 30 April was the birthday of her mother and predecessor, Juliana. The holiday remains as an April observance in honor of Juliana and in hopes of better weather than would be encountered in January. 

In recent years, Koninginnedag has become more and more of an open-air party, with many concerts and special events in public spaces, particularly in Amsterdam, with expected crowds of up to 800,000. A major concert is held on the Museumplein in Amsterdam. To aid visitors in returning home by train after the major events, outdoor events must end by 20.00 and the Museumplein show by 21.00.