The First Ever King's Day in the Netherlands

Yes, you heard that right...and I was here to witness it "live" with Astrid this past Saturday in Gorinchem as well as on Dutch TV.

This is the collage I posted on my Facebook Saturday and this is what I said:

Holland's first ever King's Day is today...an official Dutch holiday. Talk about a party! King Willem-Alexander is the first Dutch king since 1890. Before him were 3 queens: his mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Though the Dutch flag is red, white and blue, the Dutch royal family comes from the House of Nassau-Orange. So ORANGE is the color of the day! Guess what my favorite color is?!

I sure hope you like ORANGE!

 Someone on FB asked why the Dutch flag isn't orange?

Here's the thing:  the Dutch flag has been red, white, and blue since long before Dutch royalty.

Dutch royalty is from the House of Nassau-Orange since 1815.

So, on only certain royal birthdays is the orange banner flown next to the flag.

Willem-Alexander's birthday is April 27th, which was yesterday, Sunday.

But when the birthday falls on a Sunday, it's celebrated on the Saturday before it.

Now then....ENJOY!

The first ever King's Day as seen in Gorinchem, NL, where we live.

It's a party, a show, a feast...and a flea market on the streets.

If you want to sell something, pull up a table or blanket and just sell it.

You don't even need a permit.

For good luck, it might help to wear ORANGE.

 The crazier the better, and a nice smile, of course!

The lion is in the Dutch Coat of Arms, by the way.

He makes such a cute mascot.

To be honest, instead of getting tired of orange, it has become my best favorite color.

I see it everywhere I go.

 My Nikon Lady (Astrid) met an old friend, Marja, selling stuff with her grandkids.

The last time we saw her was at our wedding 4 years ago!

It's a small world after all.

 The highlight of the day for us was this folk group from Utrecht, wearing the costume 
from the Zeeland Westkapelle. They are called Pieremachochel, dancing to live music.

See how Astrid and I fit right in!  We love to dance, you know.


So does this little fella!

Later we saw them taking a break at our favorite ice cream shop.

We're not dumb; we took a break, too.

(Apricot was the closest color to orange, so that was my choice for the day.)

King's Day is here to stay...as long as Willem-Alexander is King.

Guess who's next in line?  Yup, his first of 3 daughters, Amalia...another queen.

Long live the King...or Queen!

Queen's Day in the Netherlands = ORANGE

Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) in the Netherlands is celebrated every April 30th, rain or shine.  The present queen is Queen Beatrix, whose real birthday is 31 January, but her mother Juliana's birthday was 30 April.  So the official Queen's Day is, yes, 30 April...unless it's a Sunday, when it's the 29th.  Got it?

Tomorrow Astrid and I fly to England for 6 days, which means I won't be doing a post here next week, so because April 30 was still this week, here's 2 posts in one week since forever and my first post ever on Queen's Day.  Let's just say I finally did something about it.

That's Queen Beatrix in the top-right corner above.  She's 74.

Lang leve de koningin = Long live the Queen.

The Netherlands has been an independent monarchy since 16 March 1815.

The monarchy is governed by the House of Orange-Nassau.

Thus the color orange on Queen's Day!  It's everywhere.

Orange takes precedence over the red, white, and blue of the national flag.
(click to enlarge to see the orange "banner" attached to the flag)

Young and old alike celebrate the day.  It's a national holiday.

It's also the one day of the year when you can sell all your junk, like one huge city-wide flea market.

First come, first served.  Just spread out your blanket and sell away.

Astrid and I bought 7 DVDs for €4 total, and a new Beatrix Potter book in Dutch for €,50.
How can you say NO to that!

(I threw in that too-cute dog on skates for fun.)

Besides the flea market, there are all kinds of activities going on.

This lady was advertising her sculpture classes.

You're never too young to earn a buck or two, right?

Astrid made sure we got the e-mail address for these 2 buskers.  

After all, she and I both played the clarinet in our day!

(And yes, we both wore our orange shirts on a gorgeous, sunshiny day!)

What was it Winnie-the-Pooh said:
"Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon!"

A little bit of something for everyone,
especially if you're not of Dutch heritage.

As you'd guess, this little family stole the show for me.
How can you not get into the swing of things on such a grand day!

By the way, this particular Queen's Day was maybe more festive for the Dutch than most.  More festive because of its sombre nature, if that's possible?  This past February Beatrix's 2nd son, Friso, was buried in a snow avalanche while skiing in Austria and has been in a coma ever since.  Few believe he will make it.  He's 43 and is married, with 2 daughters.  The Dutch came out en masse on Monday to show their love for the Queen and what she's going through.

Lang leve de koningin = Long live the Queen.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Update on our neighborhood renovation (remember the bats?): 

A week ago we were minding our own business when we heard a commotion outside.

All the glass windows/doors on ground level are now boarded up because...

yup, you guessed it.  They've run out of money and need to wait.

They're hoping the boards will keep out strays of whatever sort!
But now I wonder if the bats will come back to roost?

To be continued.....

Breda, NL...and I'd Rather be Fishing

A couple of weekends ago Astrid and I were out-n-about in the countryside on our way home after a delightful drive to nearby Breda. We love driving the back roads coming and going whenever possible. It's such a different look than what you get from the freeway.

Lo and behold, while minding our own business but keeping our eyes open, there she was, fishing. Astrid hears something out of me...a grunt...body language...intuition--"Ginnie would like this"--and she stops. I get out of the car and snap the pictures.

Were they sisters? Actually, there was also a boy nearby at the bank of the canal and I wondered if they all belonged to each other. All doing what they love.

It's my turn at Vision and Verb again today, where you can read about what I'd rather be doing...and where this experience took me.

But speaking of Breda, since that was the day, take a peak with me at another fun city that's almost in our backyard, 19 miles away. It's Grote Kerk (Big/great church), or Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady), was the main attraction for us, as almost always. Nor were we disappointed!

This is a gothic, protestant church that dates back to the 15th century. It's tower is 97 meters high. Sadly, very few services are held there anymore...except for baptisms, weddings and funerals, concerts, exhibitions, symposiums and fashion shows. But this is what's happening these days all over Europe.

When I see churches like this, visible from all over the city, I marvel. I still haven't gotten used to them. Surely the residents who have lived there all their lives are ho-hum about them...as I'm almost becoming of the one just two blocks from our apartment. [Did I say that?]


Lucky for us, this church was open on a Saturday. Actually, the map we follow religiously has a different icon for city churches that are open to the public or not. So we know ahead of time if we'll be able to go inside.
If we can, we will!
This particular church pays tribute to to its members by hanging heraldry shields/emblems everywhere your eye can see. It even has a map where you can locate whatever shield you're looking for. This was a first for us.


But what astounded us more than anything was the pipe organ...the magnificent organ extending from almost top to bottom. This, too, was unique for us. It was worth the entire trip.

The organ of the Grote Kerk in Breda is one of the few complete mechanical 4-manual organs of the Netherlands. It has an interesting history which dates from before 1530. The organ has been restored in 1969 by Flentrop.

It so happens that this church in Breda is from Oranje-Nassaus (House of Orange-Nassau), the Dutch Royal Family, where 17 members are buried in the chapel. In this collage above, you can see some of the art work throughout the church that pays tribute to their religious and historical heritage.

By far, the above Grote Kerk is Breda's most important city landmark. But as a fortified city, it also holds strategic military/political significance, and is home to the Dutch Royal Military Academy, as seen below:

As Dutch cities go, this one is a beauty. Not too big and not too small. Just right. It has it all, as you see below...the architecture, history, canals, art, water tower and windmill.

What more could you ask for...except for maybe a RED HAIR FESTIVAL coming up in September. Can you believe it! Initiated in 2005, it attracts attendees from 30 countries. Will we go? You'll be the first to find out, trust me. I suspect not, since we're not fans of huge crowds. But just the thought of it sounds fun, doesn't it. That's Breda!

Back to the beginning of this post is the little girl fishing, who was the frosting on top of that day while out-n-about here in The Netherlands. Also, the reminder that today is my turn again at Vision & Verb. Did I ever tell you I LOVE LOVE LOVE my life here in this country!