I started a PhD in aquatic geochemistry at the University of Iceland working on the CarbFix Project. I had graduated with a Masters from Utrecht University (Netherlands) where I studied Hydrology and Geochemistry and from George Washington University with degrees in Geological Science and Environmental Studies.
Last year I spent my Queen's Day (Koninginnedag) in Den Haag and Utrecht, so this year I switched it up to act like a tourist and go to Amsterdam for the day. And I have to say, it was a lot of fun!
History lesson time for those who don't know, Queen's Day began originally as Princess Day on August 31, 1885 to celebrate the birthday of Princess Wilhemina, heiress to the Dutch throne. This tradition continued when she became queen, changing to Queen's Day and changing to April 30 when her daughter, Juliana, eventually became queen. Queen Beatrix was the granddaughter of Wilhemina and kept Queen's Day the same day as her actual birthday is in January and the weather is not as nice. This past April 30 was the last Queen's Day for awhile because her son, Willem-Alexander, became King and next year it will be King's Day on his birthday, April 27.
Also the one major requirement for Queen's Day is to wear orange!! And also go outside and enjoy yourself!
The very anti-climatic train ride to A'dam
My friend, Andrea, and I were told by many a person that Amsterdam would be overcrowded and really hard to get into, so we decided to take an earlier train in and see if these rumors were true. As luck would have it, our train was epically empty! The city itself wasn't overly crowded either so we were able to enjoy a quite relaxing day (and very tame to Utrecht's celebrations on Queen's Night).
Prinsengracht - the canal with lots of party boats with many having their own DJ
We started off our day in Amstel (south of Amsterdam's centre), sat at a cafe and looked at all the old junk people were selling (Queen's Day is the only day that people are allowed to hold a garage sale). Then we met up with my friend, Iris, and her boyfriend to start off the day's festivities with some drinks! In the afternoon Andrea and I walked into the city to see everyone celebrating on boats in the canals, on the streets and the fact that it was the last day of Queen Beatrix and the first of King Willem. We ended up on the Museumplein (where the Rijksmusuem, Van Gogh Museum and the "I amsterdam" sign is) where there was a large concert going on with many Dutch singers/performers.
Party time at Java-eiland and dancing to Armin van Buuren!
Dutch royal family after saying hello!
At this point I met up with Iris again and in the evening we went to a concert Java-eiland (east of the Amsterdam Centraal train station) featuring the royal orchestra and Armin van Buuren, very famous Dutch DJ. Around the same time of the concert was the Koningsvaart, where the new King and his family sailed around a canal in Amsterdam to greet everyone. At the end of his boat tour he made a stop at Java-eiland and the whole family got out to say hello to us, which was really cool! The concert itself was fun too, if really short.
The 3 princesses greeting the huge crowd, the king and queen are behind the orange crown on the left foreground.
Flyover with Dutch flag colors trailing behind
Just after the sunset (around 9 pm now) and on our way back to the main train station, we were able to see quite the display from airplaines flying over and water spouting from lots of fire ships! It was quite a nice touch to the end of the day, but I was very glad to be lying in bed that night.
Really cool sight to see with all the fire boats after the sun set
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