Queen's Day

April 30th in the Netherlands is an especially festive day commemorating the birthday of the current Queen's mother. This Royal occasion in royally celebrated throughout Amsterdam for about 1.5 days, starting with Queens night, on April 29th.

The city turns into one giant block party, with bands, beer stands, street vendors, and an extremely high number of drunk people, mostly wearing some type of orange attire.

For example, please see the foto to the right. Pay no attention to the two party goers on the right, but examine the passed out youth slouched underneath the tree. Not only has he consumed about 7 liters of beer, his hair has been spray-painted orange as a reminder. Party time. Excellent.

And who are these ridiculously good-looking people?!

... if you ever find yourself in Amsterdam at the end of April, make sure to make the most of these festiviteis. Large orange hats strongly recommended.

Brugge

I heard that Brugge in Belgium, was one of the gems of Western Europe and it certainly didn't disappoint. We headed there few weekends ago with out visitor number 7 (I think), Reed.

The canals there were a bit different than in Amsterdam, set deeper into the ground. Perhaps that's what added to the effect of perfectly still water, resulting in some great fotos.

What can I say, it was a town with great waffles, beer and ice cream, and even better views and coincidently fantastic weather.