Queen's Day in the Netherlands!

What an exciting day in the Netherlands!  Queen's Day!  Queen Beatrix abdicated the throne to her son Willem-Alexander with a secular ceremony in the Nieuwe Kerk, a decommissioned church, before a joint session of the Dutch parliament. Willem-Alexander is now the country's first king since 1890. 

Queen Beatrix was the sixth monarch from the House of Orange-Nassau, which has ruled the Netherlands since the early 19th Century. People wear orange in honor of the family as you can see by the crowd celebrating in Amsterdam:

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Haarlem celebrated on a much smaller scale, but lots of fun nonetheless! 

My boa and headband worn in celebration of Queen's Day!

I was out of the house by 8:00 a.m. to go to the Vrijmarkt (Free Market)! I had planned to be out by 7:00....but I just didn't get enough sleep the night before because of dizziness. 

The Vrijmarkt is like a huuuuge garage sale  covering the entire downtown area! I wanted to get out before the crowds, but I guess I was late......the streets were already getting packed. People set up their wares on the sidewalks all around town:

Bruce came by the house around 8:30 a.m. I got back to the house around 9:30 or so. Bruce had brought over some Oranje Bitter...the official Queen's Day drink. We each had a bit (it's very yummy!)...

and then headed out to do some shopping:

 Our purchases!

We stopped by the Parck Restaurant for lunch and watched the people go by! 

 Party bus....we saw them driving around town all day and into the evening:

 Young entrepreneurs selling freshly squeezed orange juice:

 and coffee:

Grabbel-ton. Bruce explained that for €.30 (30 cents) you reach your hand into the bucket of shredded paper and pull out a prize. I did it....and got a cute little notebook of paper!

 Musicians everywhere!  Of course, we always contribute to the young musicians!

 Bands were set up all over town!

 Unusual costumes galore!

 The Netherlands flag was on display all over town:

Lots of people in the Botermarkt today!  Another band set up at the other end of the plaza.....I couldn't get down there due to the crowds:

 Bicycles everywhere. People parked them wherever they could and walked into Haarlem Centrum:

 Clean up time!

 We had started walking towards the Grote Markt thinking we'd find a place to sit and "people watch", but noticed that people were already getting intoxicated.....sooooo we walked along the Spaarne River and found a nice cafe where we could sit at the  quiet end of town...

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By the time we got home my head was spinning.... All the noise from the different bands and crowds was making my heart race. I had taken a nap earlier....but we did a lot today. My brain was fried from too much input all day. When I closed my eyes to go to sleep I had that falling sensation again, making me scared to close my eyes......soooo, I was awake till after 1:00 a.m. again...

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It is now the day after Queen's Day and I was just reading an entry in the Haarlem Weekblad. Apparently there was a young man beaten in the Grote Markt last night around 1835 hrs. I'm glad we had decided to stay away from that area!  Too many intoxicated people usually equals trouble!

http://www.dichtbij.nl/zuid-kennemerland/112/artikel/2773819/man-gewond-na-klappen-tegen-hoofd-grote-markt.aspx


I woke up after only 5 hours of sleep and now I'm paying the  price. I had to go out to get a few things at the market and found that it was very difficult to get around because my head was just spinning. Next time I am going to do something that involves a lot of noise, crowds, walking, etc...I will have to plan to do nothing the next day!  I tried to take a nap, but can't sleep.