Queen's Day

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Trip Start Apr 27, 2006 Trip End Apr 01, 2008 Next
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  Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tuesday, May 2, 2006

After an agonizing flight with a screaming child in the aisle next to me, who was absolutely uncontrollable by its parents, and who could only be slept through with liberal amounts of scotch, earplugs, and the stereo headphones, I arrived in Amsterdam late (a missed connection at Heathrow), groggy and a little hungover. The turnaround for Queen's Night (the night before Queen's Day) had to be quick, though, because I had lost nine hours on the trip. Check in, a quick shower, and it was off to meet a friend and his brother, who lives here part-time.

A phone call told me that the "apartment" where we were meeting was actually a houseboat on the Amstel river, and I walked over there amid the signs of the set-up for the impending party tomorrow - orange (the national color which represents the monarchy) balloons everywhere, and the inscription "Bezet" written on practically every square inch of sidewalk. (I would come to learn that this means "reserved" and was placed there by the people who planned to have their sidewalk sale at that spot the next day.)

The houseboat was cleverly designed out of an old barge, with a complete kitchen, washing machine, toilet, bedroom, patio on to the river, and satellite TV and the internet. (Pictures attached). Apparently, all of the houseboats on the river were once illegal squatters until Amsterdam legalized the existing ones, and banned all future ones. The location and condition of this one was of such quality that it even impressed visiting Dutch, who would ask the renter (my friend's brother) how in the hell he got it.

Houseboat

Over the next couple hours, various people - some Dutch, some other visiting friends - gathered at the boat.

We had a few drinks on the boat before heading out into the night, which kind of blends into Queen's Day, and into the night thereafter. People were everywhere. And I mean everywhere. If you picture the Bay to Breakers, but multiply it by every street in San Francisco, you get some idea. It was not localized at all. Every canal, every street, every park, and every square was thronged with people in orange, drinking beer, selling their crap, and dancing (particularly on the boats in the canals) to pulsating, Euro techno music at brutal volumes. (Pictures attached.) There were lines for every bathroom and they were charging .50 Euro to use them. There were also outside public urinals that defy description - so I have attached a picture. At points, one could barely move because of the congestion at certain intersections.

For all the alcohol consumed, though, everybody was friendly and having a good time. Quite commonly, I was asked how I knew about Queen's Day and why I was here because it does not have an international reputation, and most of participants I talked to were Dutch. I even had a Dutch lass at a bar late Friday night take a particular interest in me for awhile, but she took more of an interest in another guy after a bit, and I had to cut my losses and go get a schwoerma (aka gyro, swarma, halal, etc. - the ubiquitous call to the drunk man of a greasy piece of mystery meat shaved off a stick, stuck in a pita, and drowned in a yogurt sauce.

Houseboat on Left - black

We've all had them, we know they must be noticeably adding cholesterol to our arteries, but they are just so damn good.)

By Sunday afternoon, I was hurting pretty bad - Genever is a scary drink and I guess it should come as no surprise that it smells coming out your pores the next day, given that it is basically gin with even more botanicals and flavors than regular gin. But it is relatively cheap here, and appeared to be the shot of choice given that I was bought so many by random Dutch. Although the Orange Bitter shots probably didn't help either.

But it takes more than that to stop me, so I joined a whole bunch of Americans who work here (primarily for NFL Europe, along with my friend's brother) at an Australian bar to watch game 4 of the Lakers/Phoenix series. It was a mellow evening, except for when all the Lakers fans when wild on Kobe's last-second heroics, but it served as a reminder that such expat places exist in every major city should I need just to be able to comfortably hang out and speak English for awhile.

On Monday, I wandered around the city and Vondelpark (the large park here) with no real purpose, before meeting everyone to go to Supperclub (the original one, although San Francisco has one now too), which is a famous restaurant where you lie on beds while you eat. There is only one sitting and you are there from 8:00 to 1:00, during which time everyone in the restaurant gets a top-notch, five-course prix fixe meal (salmon salad, Thai mushroom coconut milk soup, scallops, lamb chops and a three-part dessert in our case).

More Party Boats

The meal is 60 Euros before liquor, but they don't turn the tables, so they make up the revenue loss in efficiency, such as the kitchen cooking all the same meals at the same time and a limited wait staff that hands food up to the second level off the bar and over the balcony. (Pictures attached.)

Unlike San Francisco, for now, many people openly smoke marijuana at the table to enhance the meal (and pass the time), which is no surprise because people openly smoke marijuana everywhere, and the "coffeeshops" (as opposed to a "café" which serves only food) are ubiquitous. The "smart food" stores which sell mushrooms (along with other so-called smart foods, like herbal extacy) are also a lot more conspicuous and common than when I was here last in 1999.

I would comment on the Red Light district, but we barely went there, other than to walk through it to other areas of Amsterdam. I think that is a function of hanging out with a bunch of quasi-locals. The Red Light District is dirty and a bit sketchy, not to mention sleazy, and caters primarily to tourists, and it seemed that none of the bars or restaurants frequented by the people I was with were there. It's no loss to me, but I found it interesting to note how little I was in the district most associated with Amsterdam.

So to sum up, I would recommend Queen's Day as a big fun 1.5 day never-ending city-wide party, but I didn't see anything that unique other than the size, location (the role the canals for the moving boat parties) and national pride - which is far from unique and arguably more harmful than good. That said, I had a great time experiencing more of a "locals" trip than prior touristy experiences here.

Next stop: Bratislava, Slovakia.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Party Boat Logjam	Party Boats	Passing Food to the Upstairs Beds	People Selling Crap
Pissoir	Street Scene	Supperclub from our bed	View From Houseboat

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