Today is King's Day, so I'll write a blog post.

Today was the first King's Day in many, many decades - perhaps even a century.

The day is a special day for the king to come to the people, but when it was called Queen's Day - back when The Netherlands had a queen - the day has been celebrated in very unique ways.

Willem-Alexander became king last year on Queen's Day (April 30) after his mother abdicated the throne.  Now that she has let her son become king, she is now called "Princess" Beatrix - her granddaughters are also princess.  Confused yet?

Anyway - here are some photos of the day.  Enjoy!

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Dutch translation so I can practice -

Vandaag was de eerste Koningsdag in veel, veel decennia - misschien een eeuw.

De dag is een speciale dag voor de koning om de mensen te bezoeken.  Toen het Koninginnedag genaamd was - toen Nederland een koningin had - de dag is in veel unieke manieren gevierd.  

Willem-Alexander was ingehuldigd vorig jaar op Koninginne Dag (30 april) na de aftreden van zijn moeder.  Haar zoon is nu koning, dus zij is "Princes" Beatrix genaamd - ook als haar kleindochters.  Ben je in de war?

In ieder geval, zijn hier sommige foto's.  Veel plezier!

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Heron in the park - they remind me of the blue herons at my grandparents' pond

The center of the city looks like a yard sale.  Everywhere.  You can find lots of stuff for cheap.  50 cents for a book, maybe a pair of shoes for 5 euros.  

Grote Kerk - with the flag and orange ribbon

Every street we walked on, people were selling things.  Some places (as in the photo below) had tables and covers, but other places the stuff was laying on the ground on a blanket/sheet.  

As we walked through the city, Randolf spotted an old neighbor and a guy that used to go to our church.  His neighbor asked us where our bag of purchases was - but all we bought was bubble tea!

Mine had a cute little Dutch figure, and Randolf's said Mexico.  Fun!!

Percussion group outside the Stadhuis

Everyone - well, seemed that way - was wearing orange or had the Dutch flag.  It was like a "school spirit" day, only with everyone in the entire country.

The woman behind this man was also wearing orange...orange shirt, orange tights...

Perhaps things will change now that Willem-Alexander is king, but today he said, "Why change something that's a success?"  Only time will tell.

Flags are not flown all the time like they are in America - only on certain holidays like today.

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