Such a massive day yesterday! The last Queens Day for some time to come, as the old Queen (Beatrix) abdicated to make room for her son, the New King Willem-Alexander!
I didn’t want to miss a minute of it, and I also wanted to make sure I didn’t miss out on seeing things I missed last year.
So we got up and donned our orange, and headed out on foot through the masses of crowds and street stalls. Would you like to know more?
A simple post in list form. Spring in Amsterdam consists of several things.
– Tea with friends.
– Beer with friends while knitting.
Who’d have thought this day would come upon us so fast? We flew out of Sydney a year ago. It’s one of those strange sets of circumstances where it simultaneously feels like we’ve been here forever, and like we only just got here. Time has passed in the blink of an eye, yet has taken so long for some events to pass or come to fruition, that we thought they’d never arrive. We’ve learnt and grown so much, and yet, there is still so much further to go.
As my first semester of Dutch language class draws to a close, I realise there is still a long way for me to go. I try hard not to feel inundated or intimidated, and remind myself that I’m still learning and refining my use of the English language every day. Some days I’m a better self-motivational speaker than others. I plug on.
Reasons I love the Netherlands number 1654764513 … 5
Did you know there’s a moving Fair? It’s called Kermis, and you can track its progress around Holland here.
And we went! It was in Dam Square! You can’t keep me away from a fair!
But I was a bit sick, so we only went up on the Ferris Wheel, as I think spinning around, upside down, in 3C, with wind-chill factor, and no hat, wouldn’t have done my blocked ears or head cold much good.
We watched other people be upside-down on the fun rides though.
I had wanted to go to the House of Bols almost since we arrived in Amsterdam. Having said that though, it obviously wasn’t overly high on my list, as I hadn’t been there yet. All that has now changed.
The House of Bols was founded in 1575 and is one of the oldest distilled spirits companies in the world. It is here that they make genever. Genever is the juniper-flavored and strongly alcoholic traditional liquor of the Netherlands and Belgium, from which gin evolved.
I attempted to go a few weeks earlier when I was being a tour guide, but when it was explained to us that you had to do a tour before being allowed one cocktail and some “tasting” shots, we passed on the idea.
ghoti industries 