Queen's Day in Amsterdam (Final in series)

Final photo in our Queen's Day series, a collage of some of the crazy orange headgear (click photo to enlarge). Orange is nothing if not festive!

Queen's Day in Amsterdam (7)

Now this is a bit more Dutch! This truck didn't move for about 5 minutes, due to the density of the crowd. And that's just to get across one small canal. I'm not sure if you could pay me enough to try to drive through Amsterdam on Queen's Day.

Queen's Day in Amsterdam (6)

More streetside sales, though this one didn't seem quite so Dutch. We had to laugh at the "Real American Hot Dogs" ... although we weren't tempted (or maybe we hadn't had enough to drink yet) to eat one. Perhaps the condiment containers gave it away as being not quite american: two mayonnaise containers vs. one each for ketchup & mustard.

Queen's Day in Amsterdam (5)

This was the MTV boat (if you look carefully, you can see the hosts microphone). Definitely was a rockin' boat, they had a big fog machine at the front. We don't know if they were broadcasting live or taping segments for later.

Queen's Day in Amsterdam (4)

For us, the highlight of Queen's Day was watching the boat parade. We got a good spot early, then watched as a trickle of boats became a non-stop traffic jam. Most boats had their own sound system, some even with a DJ, so it was non-stop house music all day. One of the boats even threw a bottle of wine to us ... yes, a full bottle that we enjoyed. It was a don't-try-this-at-home moment that fit the spirit of the day!

Queen's Day in Amsterdam (3)

One of the first signs of Queen's Day are the streetside sales. City residents sell everything: yard-sale items, food, hugs, pie-in-the-face ... you name it, you'll probably see it. This couple, selling various orange items, perfectly captured the spirit of the day.