First, my warm thoughts and sincere sympathy to those affected by today’s incident in Apeldoorn.
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Queen’s Day was a quiet affair in Maastricht. The Maas did not fill with drunken sailors (only a few jet skis and motor yachts). There was no dancing in the streets. Orange was applied as an accent to shop windows, rather than as a base.
As a result, I spent the holiday quietly catching up with friends by e-mail, learning cURL, and reading. Yep, I’m a fun date today…
So, as the sun sets and the band across the river launches into “Radar Love”, I’ll turn, instead, to answering Isabella’s holiday questions at Touch of Dutch:
- Are you living in the Netherlands or outside of the Netherlands?
- Inside, but only by a few km.
- Tell about why you celebrate Queen’s Day.
- There’s a bit of a feeling of Memorial Day weekend in the air; it’s a work holiday and there’s warm sunshine and music in the park. So, my temptation is to get out and welcome spring with a blanket on the grass, a beer, and a picnic.
- It’s also the first celebration since Carnivale… (maybe everyone is still recovering)
- Tell about how you celebrate Queen’s Day.
- It appears to be a very quiet celebration here in Maastricht: the southerners may not be the Royalists that the northerners are. A quick tour around town revealed…nothing. Vrijthof Square was deserted, both at midnight (below) and mid-day.
- The sidewalk bars and cafe’s appeared to be about half-full. There were few orange boas or orange glasses; few signs or flags to mark the day.
- There was, however, a small parade across the stone bridge about 11 am, disrupted when the span was raised to accommodate an oversized barge.
- What are your favorite activities/foods you share on Queen’s Day.
- <gulp> I confess to leaving the balcony door open and letting the music and the breeze waft through while I caught up on computer-geek stuff.
- I did like watching the boats.
- I hoped for, but didn’t find, oliebollen.
- I refused to drink Kriek (cherry beer, a summertime favorite).
- Photographs! Music in the park; a band on the street
- Any links you wish to share to events happening in your area?