Den Haag, Netherlands: Koninnenacht
japra | Apr 30, 2010 | Comments 15
Last night, the Netherlands celebrated Koninnenacht, which to my understanding, is the “party hearty” portion of Queen’s Day. Some of the main streets in the Centrum were converted into pedestrian zones for the occasion, basically turning the middle of Den Haag into a big festival.
Roxi and I were invited to a friend’s house* for pre-Koninnenacht drinks. Sipping champagne–or in Roxi’s case, a Coke–on a balcony overlooking a pretty canal is a lovely thing!. After, Roxi and I rode our bikes down to the Centrum to see the festivities. We didn’t hang around long enough for the bands to start, but we got to enjoy the thumping beats some DJs spun in the square where we had drinks with Papa DJ last weekend.
The crowds were just starting to gather when we got to the Centrum, but by the time we left–about 10 pm–people were swarming in. Unfortunately for the party goers, it rained last night. Pretty much our first real rain in weeks. Boo!
Today is Queen’s Day, a Dutch holiday I’ve been looking forward to for months (remember this post?). I still don’t have anything crazy to wear, though. BTW, can you tell that the national colour of the Netherlands is ORANGE? I think Roxi and I need to do a little shopping for our costume closet.
*Thanks, K! It was so fun to spend time with you and your friends! I still can’t believe you had real Queso. It totally rocked! ;-)
About the Author: JaPRA is an expat Texan living in England with her husband (Mr. DJ), their 17-year old daughter (Roxi), and their dog Trudy.
great pictures! my favorite orange thing is the orange blow up crown – cool!
I liked that crow too, Julia. I thought there would be more vendors selling stuff like that but I didn’t find anyone. Just a few people selling balloons and glow in the dark stuff.
The photos look great. Happy Queen’s Day!
Hope you had a fun Queen’s Day too, Invader_Stu!
It’s a shame about the rain,but then the Dutch are a hardy lot in all weather! Can’t wait to see the ex-pats in their orange.
Yeah, the Dutch don’t really let the rain slow them down ;-)
Happy Queen’s Day. All the festivities look so fun, sort of a spring celebration too!
Well, despite the rain, it was a very nice weekend :-)
Hi JaPRA, great photos. Don’t you just love the Netherlands?
When I lived there I had a Texan friend and she and I would do a tortilla run to the other side of Holland. I can’t remember where it was located, but they supplied all the restaurants with Mexican food supplies. The packs were huge, but there were lots of Texans there at the time and it was no problem to get rid of a carload of 100 pack tortillas and other supplies. Such an adventure!
Ginny, that is so funny! The lengths we go to get have a little bit of home. And yes, there are still quite a few Expat Texans around here. Can you believe our time here is almost over? It just seems like yesterday you were telling me about how much we would love it here in the Netherlands. And so we did :-)
You are happy you left early – it was a truly ridiculous night. Like St. Paddy’s day in the states, but way, way, oh so way worse. Same with the ‘dam on Friday. Alas.
The best part was watching Queen Beatrix wend her way through Middelburg on Nederland 1 TV on Sunday morning.
Next year, a good book, my couch, and some music to drown out the people screaming and falling into the canal outside my window :)
Whoops, I meant Friday morning. They had a huge orange carpet rolled out for her that went through the center of town… nice.
LOL, Monica! I think it was worth seeing once. I hate to admit it, but I think my days of partying into the wee hours are behind me… It’s not too loud, but I’m just too old ;-)
I love it! How festive and fun. I like it that the national color is orange, because I’m way into orange, and this is about ME!
I’m getting the feeling that the Dutch celebrate just about every day. Is this wrong?
No! It’s very good!!
Chris, you know, I always thought I HATED orange, but I find myself drawn to it again and again and again. My everyday coffee mug is orange (from the Tate Modern), so I always begin my day with a burst of that colour ;-)