To kickstart Queen's Day weekend: the Keikenhof, a canal ride, and a rave in an elementary school...

Queen's Day weekend (Saturday) started off with a trip to the Keikenhof, a really big garden, a lot like Butchart Gardens, but with more tulips. This is (left to right) Fabian, Michela, Veena, Ecca (hiding), Chad and Masashi. Yes, these guys are all middle management and professionals back in their home countries.
The Keikenhof is where the Dutch perfect their plans to take over the world with the help of botanically engineered super-tulips.

After leaving the gardens, me and Isabelle took a train and met up with Thomas (middle) and his buddy Walter, who both live(d) in Amsterdam. Walter had a boat so we got a few drinks and some snacks and got the full-on canal tour of the city. Pretty great way to spend the afternoon. After the boat we went for sushi, quite an indulgence on a student budget, and then went to a rave in an elementary school. Yes, in an elementary school.

Queen's Day Eve, aka Queen's Night, in The Hague!

Queen's Night (Sunday) (end of April- yes I know this post is long overdue) is the biggest holiday of the year in the Netherlands. The whole country comes out for it. In The Hague on Queen's Night they set up a pile of stages and put on free concerts for people. The partying goes on all night. The revelry is starting to get to Chad and Grace...
Nothing like celebrating the Queen's birthday with Veena and a beer in front of a church.
The streets become so crowded its unbelievable.

Queen's Night is all about free music, people crowding in the streets and drinking. It is quite a novelty to grab a beer in a corner store and just go walking down the road. I kept getting flash worries that a cop was going to stop me, and had to remind myself I wasn't in Canada and things like drinking in the street, marijuana and prostitution are legal in the Socialist nation I currently live in. Good old Socialism...

Queen's Day!! in Amsterdam

The chaos of Queen's Day on the canals. A mess of orange coloured drinkers, boats narrowly missing each other, and lots of music.
Cindy and David chilling on Queen's Day in Vondelpark, Amsterdam.

Queen's Day (Monday) is all about going to Amsterdam, an idea a third of the country decides to do, and spend your day drinking on the street and experiencing the one day a year you don't need a licence in the Netherlands to sell something on the street. This amounts to the biggest garage sale ever, where everything is for sale, including more beer.

In order to truly do it right you have to wear something horribly orange and brave the crowds. You also have to leave for Amsterdam early, as the city transit shuts down once the city gets too full. So trains into the city stop, and they don't let anyone else in.