© Stephanie Glaser
The Orange crush streaming out of Centraal Station and on to the streets of Amsterdam indicated that the Dutch — especially young people — must love their Queen Bea.
© DirkvdM
Throngs of Dutch citizens waved flags and sported the Netherlands’s national color, orange — lots of orange. Revelers even dyed their hair in flaming shades of tangerine, tangelo and clementine.
To be honest, it looked like my roommates and I had stepped into a Florida citrus convention.
It was Koninginnedag — Queen’s Day, which recognizes the Queen’s birthday and is celebrated every April 30. As an American, I could barely say it let alone did I know exactly what Koninginnedag would be like.
© Emiel Ketelaar, FrozenImage
But, like her loyal subjects, I figured I could drink tea with my pinky up in the air, eat crustless cucumber sandwiches and wave to Queen Beatrix as she rode by in a horse-drawn carriage.
Leah, Amy and I, who were on a college study abroad program based 30 minutes away in Leiden, wanted to check out the whole monarchy thing.
However, as we walked out on to the Amsterdam streets, we got sucked into the detour to debauchery. People spilled out of the packed bars, slammed beers on the streets and sat on rooftops. It was clear that we needed to start drinking alcohol right away. It was 9:30 a.m.
Travel Oops 