Koninginnedag (Queen’s Day)...

Koninginnedag (Queen’s Day) is celebrated on 30th April in Amsterdam. Actually the birthday of Juliana, mother of the current Queen Beatrix – Queen’s Day is an uproarious madhouse and highlight of the annual calendar. A ‘free market’ is held throughout the city, meaning anyone can sell anything they like, and the vast terrain of pavements (staked out by vendors well ahead of time) becomes a comical open-air showroom of items ranging from precious heirlooms to outright junk. Most people grab their orange wig and tights and hang on tight for musical revelry, rivers of beer and about two million happy visitors. You have to walk everywhere too, as the streets are too packed for the buses and trams to run.