One thing I really enjoy when in another country is getting a taste for the local television. Some countries TV is fairly boring: I’m looking at you Germany, while others such as Japan have an awesome absolutely crazy television experience. I love Japanese TV.
Italy however provides probably the most enjoyable viewing. For the guys at least. Every TV show is filled with gorgeous girls. Announcers, stage props, question holders, football interviewers, they are everywhere. There is some form of genius at work in the studios of Television Italia. Whom ever came up with the concept of gorgeous blondes reading out a list of words on a game show is a champion among men.
Oh, and to my buddy Kym: Happy Birthday, and enjoy the photos.
Just a few photos from Queens Day. I’ll write up a proper article and update this post in a couple of days. For now: I am off to Amsterdam!
UPDATE: Alright now! I am back from a great couple of days in Amsterdam. I hope you’ve all had time to peruse the photo gallery and are probably wondering what the hell was going on. Well let me tell you.
Queen’s Day or “Koninginnedag” in Dutch is (usually) a day of great celebration in the Netherlands. Occuring every April 30 it is one of the countries few national holidays. It celebrates the Queen’s birthday and unites the whole of the country in revelry. While not exactly the current Queen’s birthday (she was born on January 31st, making me and my Aunt Beatrix birthday buddies) it has a bit of history surrounding its position on the calendar. Originally the celebrations were held on August 31st, starting from 1885 in celebration of Princess Wilhelmina’s birth, but was later moved to April 30, the birthday of Queen Julianna. Since then Queen’s day has been on that date, making it more of a celebration of the Royalty than a specific birthday.
The day is full of celebrations. Markets are opened everywhere, turning the country into one massive garage sale. Everyone decks themselves out in orange and the partying begins. This years celebrations were marred by a certain idiot driving a Suzuki Swift through a crowd of people killing himself and six others in an attempt to attack the royal family. Most of the official events were canned although a lot of people still hit parks, clubs and bars not to be dissuaded from partying by the horror of the morning.
Myself, Martine and a few of her friends found ourselves at a big party in Rotterdam, which is where all the photos came from. The girls were full of energy garnering a lot of attention from other party goers. I didn’t drink all that much, had some lunch and Martine and I were back in Waddinxveen by around 9pm. I had a great Queen’s Day and I can throughly recommend checking out Holland around April 30th!