Sunday, May 1, 2011

Koninginnedag, codenamed "I see drunk orange people everywhere day!"


On April 30 is the Dutch queens birthday celebration. As a fact it was actually the previous queen, Juliana who had her birthday on April 30th, but Beatrix decided to also celebrate her birthday on April 30 instead of January 31.
For the Dutch people, it is a day of national unity and celebration. The dress code is simple. Just wear something orange, in honor of the reigning house of Orange!
Most foreign people do get confused, because there is no orange on the flag of the Netherlands.
I spent this day in the city of Eindhoven, which had many celebrations like all the major dutch cities. I know that there is a really big celebration in Amsterdam, but being close to home certainly has it's benefits.
The feast and the level of alcohol brings back to mind the carnival in Eindhoven. It was fun trying to discover what orange colored everyone was wearing. The most common was a t-shirt, a hat or a dress. But there were also people wearing orange socks, ties, shoes, sunglasses, tights or anything you could imagine.
Just like the carnival, the (in)famous road of Stratumseind and all of the numerous bars along it, were cramped with people singing loudly dutch songs or dancing to the beat.
Stratumseind, Eindhoven

2 comments:

  1. can't just press a like button on this? :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Χαχαχαχα! Δεν νομίζω! Μπορείς όμως να το κάνεις στο post στο fb που έκανα!

    ReplyDelete