Kings Day in Amsterdam

King William Alexander being sworn in.

The following Saturday was King's Day.

It was the first King's Day in over 100 years, as the new King was crowned less than one year ago. 

Prior to that the country had been ruled by Queens

 since 1870.

My Great Grandfather
Hendrick Bell

According to my family's stories, my Great Grandfather Hendrick Bell cursed Queen Wilhelmina back in 1890 that she wouldn't have a male heir if she didn't support the entrance of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which she didn't. See link for more if interested.

 https://familysearch.org/photos/stories/776321?returnLabel=Hendrick%20Bell%20(KWJF-54R)&returnUrl=https%3A%2F%2Ffamilysearch.org%2Ftree%2F%23view%3Dancestor%26person%3DKWJF-54R%26spouse%3DKWJF-5MK%26parents%3DKWJF-5KR_27W7-GM1%26section%3Dmemories

Regardless of the validity of the story, no male heir came along until after the death of Queen Wilhelmina. King's Day celebrates the King's birthday, which fortunately is within a week of his mother's birthday, so King's Day wasn't too different from the previous Queen's Day. Though we heard stories of visitor's that booked vacations to be here for Queen's Day only to find out it occurred the previous weekend.

King's Day is a huge party. Everyone wears orange. 

The royal family was originally the house of Orange and 

it is the official color of the country, very noticeable if you paid any attention to the Winter Olympics and the 

success of the Dutch speed skaters. 

We thought you might enjoy this short clip of 

a man swinging over a canal.

All day people walk around Amsterdam or float around the canals on their boats and drink and blast music. We went into the city center and watched some of the crazy crowds. The canals were so full of boats they could hardly move. Amsterdam can be very crowded and noisy and smelly any time, but it was extra crazy on King's Day. As we were walking around, Allan suddenly stopped and said, I figured out what that smell is. I haven't smelled it this strong since a '70's rock concert. It's pot. Welcome to Amsterdam.

You might want to go and put some orange

 on, so you will feel like you are part of the party
 as you walk along with us. 

Why is this car PINK?

There is always a way to carry your booze.
A new meaning to a ten gallon hat.

Just another shot of that amazing hat.

I used to think I was tall...this girl
is in flats and she has 4 to 5 inches on me.

Feeling a little tipsy there?

Hi kids

Allan attempting to win some prize 

No, she was not the prize.

This also a day that the children can sell there toys and things.

How could anyone sell Piglet? 

There was also a big party in a park around the

corner from us. We wondered how we'd ever 

sleep from all the noise, but were surprised 

when it abruptly  shutdown about 10.

      This is a small clip of the 

party going 

on outside our apartment.

 The park was an absolute mess afterward, but people

 were up most of the night cleaning up and it didn't

 look too bad by morning. The Dutch people can be cheap, they charge to use the restrooms, so many just used 

the bushes (including women).

 Guys were even doing it off the sides of boats and

 over the edge of bridges into the canals. I was shocked! 

Once again, welcome to Amsterdam.

        Ok kids its time 
           to go home.

          What a day 
         this has been!