Well, Queens Day was most definitely a success. The Queen of the Netherlands should feel very honored that this many people dress up in orange and party in her name. I mean, it's not everyday you get to attend a humongous outdoor party celebrating the Dutch monarchy. And despite all the beer that was going around, I decided that while it was most definitely a party, Queens Day is also a cultural experience. As someone living in Utrecht for 5 months, I am really happy I was here to celebrate this holiday. Not only did I get to stand up amongst thousands of Dutch people and pretend I knew the words to their National Anthem, but I also got to see the first floor of a beautiful Dutch home right behind the Van Gogh museum since a Dutch woman was kind enough to let me, Rachel, and the 3 Dutch teenage girls we followed into the house use her bathroom. Talk about nice! As we left her husband yelled out "Don't drink anymore!" to us in Dutch (kindly translated to us by our new Dutch friends) which I took to meant: "This isn't going to happen again". Fair enough. 

Relatively empty when I first arrived at Museumplein at 10:30 in the morning... I began to think this so-called crazy day was not so crazy at all

Uhh... not exactly empty anymore.

The aftermath. Beer, Orange, and more Beer. EVERYWHERE!

Although it was a great day, it was definitely a long one. After catching the 8:55 am train into Amsterdam, I got on a 2:17 am train home, which was unfortunately delated for 25 minutes, to walk into my door at a quarter to 4. Needless to say, I was not very surprised when I woke up today at 3 pm. The actual celebration in Museumplein began at 12 and lasted till about 9 at night and then all you had to do was walk into any bar or club and find another party that had just started. 


 I highly recommend visiting the Netherlands for Queens Day if you ever get a chance-- you will not be disappointed.