Tales from Windmill Fields

Queens Day or Koninginnedag

noreply@blogger.com (Windmill Tales) — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 01:33:46 PDT

The vast majority of the inhabitants in the Netherlands have a great affection for the royal house, it is part of their tradition and identity.Without a doubt, Queen Beatrix, is very popular in the Netherlands. Soon we'll all celebrate the day of the Queen but who is the reigning queen of the Netherlands?

Queen Beatrix succeeded her mother, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands in 1980. At that time, Her Majesty was made part of the government. The Queen married Prince Claus. They had three sons: Prince Willem-Alexander, Prince Johan Friso and Prince Constantijn. Elmayor. Prince Willem-Alexander - the Prince of Orange - will reign after his mother.

Everybody thinks of the Netherlands as a country of vice, ruin, madness and partying, but upon arriving here they suddenly seem to be strict, have very formal rules and laws and are highly unlikely to let their hair down like beasts. Yes, they have red-light districts and you can buy some drugs, but here you are in big trouble if they see you drinking a beer on the street and neighbors will complain about the noise after ten o'clock at night.

But if you read my previous posts on Carnival and ask the cronies who have been in this country for more years than they can remember , they will just smile and say wait for Queen's Day, and you'll see.

The Queen's Day, Koninginnedag in Dutch, is one of the most important days of the year for the Dutch. It is a national holiday where everything is permitted and almost all attend.

Koninginnedag celebrates the birthday of the Queen. But actually the 30th of April is not the birthday of the current queen, Beatrix, but of her deceased mother, Juliana. Beatrix's birthday is on January. 31st , but as it is in the middle of winter, you can imagine it is not the best time to have big parties on the street. Beatrix therefore decided to keep April 30th as Queen's Day, also in honor of her mother, who was much loved by the people of Holland. Queen's Day was first celebrated on April 30, 1949. In this first celebration, there were military parades, performances and racing bikes.

Each year on Queen's Day, the Queen and Royal Family visit one or two cities in the Netherlands. This year they will go toRhenen and Veenendaal in the province of Utrecht. Usually people show typical traditions of their region and invite the Royal Family to take part in folk games.

Each city has its own festival: there are games for children, fun events, free flea markets (where the children can sell their old toys) and especially concerts and street parties.

Typically, the April 30th is always blessed with fine weather, so there are also festivals and big outdoor concerts, which can be crowded especially in Amsterdam. The canals of the city are filled with ships, aboard which people continue the party. The celebrations attract thousands of tourists and is very difficult to find accommodation at this time of the year in the Dutch capital. This also has negative consequences, it is estimated that about 2 million people crowd into an area where 450,000 people live.

Naturally, the Dutch will all wear Orange on April 30th What is the Dutch obsession with the color orange? The name of the Royal Family is Van Oranje (orange). So orange is thier national color. The Dutch are not very patriotic, but when they wear orange on national holidays such as Queen's Day and at sporting events, especially football championships, suddenly they become very close and develop a love for Queen and country, or maybe its just the beer talking?

Queens Day events for 2012 - If you want to go outside your home town and to some of the bigger festivals most of which are held in and around Amsterdam, you can find more information here.

Events in and around Amsterdam and here

and outside Amsterdam

And if you live in the Brabant area like me, here is what will be happening tomorrow around Breda and Tilburg.

Have fun! and Happy Queens day !

Holland's rival to Disneyland

noreply@blogger.com (Windmill Tales) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 02:50:35 PDT

If you are ever visiting the Netherlands, everybody always tells you that you must visit Amsterdam, Volendam, the windmills and tulips but there is one other place that is a must. With or without the kids!
It is the Efteling.

It is is the largest theme park in the Netherlands, and it opened in 1952, making it one the oldest in the Netherlands. The Efteling is in Kaatsheuvel, about a 25 min drive from us. Since opening it has had over 100 million visitors.
Orginally the park started as a small playground and fairy tale forest and it is now a full sized theme park. It is bigger than the original Disney park in California. Now the fairy tale forest has grown into a park for both children and adults and boasts a variety of amusement rides.

The fairy tale forest (het Sprookjesbos), is designed by the famous Dutch illustrator Anton Pieck.

The park is divided into four themed areas: Reizenrijk (Travel Realm), Marerijk (Fairy Realm), Ruigrijk (Rough Realm), and Anderrijk (Differ Realm). Funny cryptic names but they do mean something, in rough realm you can find all the fast roller coasters and in Marerijk you can find the fairy tale forest and the Droomvlucht (Dream flight) Anderrijk has rides inspired by the Western culture and the most popular ride Carnival travels through many countries.

The entire Efteling park was built in a rather rural area, with lots of pine trees, giving it a 'nature park' feeling. The Efteling is now open all year round, and although very cold it is well worth visiting the pretty lights and attractions in the cold months too.

The Efteling also has its own hotel, theater, golf course and television shows. It is a really fantastic park and a great day out for all the family.

I leave you with some great pictures from Sunday at the Efteling, if you visited the blog on Sunday you may have seen my Silent Sunday picture below!

This is actually a bin!, There are many of them around the park, and they shout "Papier hier"and say thank you if you throw something in them.

Silent Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Windmill Tales) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 22:00:01 PDT