You know, when you tell people you are moving to Amsterdam they generally shoot you a wink, an impish grin, or if they are particularly demonstrative, they raise their thumb and forefinger to their lips and suck the air in loudly as if they are . . . well, you know. One of our friends told us to look for the bench in the Vondel Park that he had carved his initials on back in 1976. He'd been sleeping on it for weeks.
Well, the sixties and seventies are over and while there is still lots of marijuana and prostitution in Amsterdam, the party city of freewheeling hippie life that so many people of a certain age remember has not been immediately apparent to us.
Until now.
Spring has sprung in Amsterdam, and it brings with it a lot more than flowers. Suddenly the Vondel Park is like Woodstock.
The outdoor cafes at Nieuw Markt are overflowing.
The bohemians and street performers are out in droves (here is an impromptu parade for the Bohemian Museum).
And everybody is out cleaning up their boats and getting them ready for the giant party that is Queens Day, coming up on Friday.
The queen's birthday (actually, the queen mother's birthday -- the birthday of the current queen is in February, not so good for a street party) is apparently a big excuse for a giant flea market, street festival and 24-hour drinking binge. Or so I hear. Everybody wears orange, and we are ready with orange T - shirts emblazoned "Lang leve de Koningin" (Long Live the Queen). Bet you never thought you'd hear that from this Democratic ward leader. I have also been given an orangecowboy hat. Yee haw!
I'll be sure and post some photos. Please be patient if it takes a week or two; on Saturday we head off for a week in the south of France, where we will have no Internet (poor us).
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