I heart Orange! >

Hi my lovelies,

Happy Hump Day!

Also thought I'd share some pictures of my most recent visit home to the Netherlands to celebrate 'Koninginnedag'. Koninginnedag means Queen's Day, which is a national holiday in the Netherlands. Celebrated on the 30 April, it's the official birthday of Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands. Queen Beatrix's actual birthday is 31 January, 30 April was the birthday of her mother and predecessor, Juliana. The holiday remains as an April observance in honour of Juliana and in the anticipation of better weather than would be encountered in January! On Queens Day the whole country sees large-scale celebrations, with many concerts and special events in public places, particulary in Amsterdam! One basic rule for Queens Day is to wear something ORANGE! People go all up in the 'Orange Madness' by dressing completely in orange, dying their hair, painting their faces and even drinking orange tinted drinks!

For Queens Day this year, me and 25 friends rented a boat to cruise the canals of Amsterdam, saoking up the sun, dancing it up, drinking and basically just having a blast with hundreds of thousands other people in Orange! It was one of the best days of my life, I truly LOVED it...which is probably clear by the constant smile on my face in the pictures below ;)

Looks like crazy fun right? There were about 800,000 people in Amsterdam celebrating that day and you can see the canals and crowds got pretty busy! However, I can definitely recommend anyone to go to Amsterdam one year to celebrate Queens Day. The atmosphere is just so buzzing and friendly, it's hard not to have a great time :) Me and my friends loved it and think I will most certainly be back next year!

Also I will also quickly answer a question I get asked a lot by my international friends!
"What's the deal with Dutch people and (their obsession with) orange, because your flag is red, white and blue?!" The answer: Orange is the color of the Dutch Royal Family. The lineage of the current dynasty, the House of Oranje-Nassau, dates back to Willem van Oranje (William of Orange). But while the color orange has royal roots in the Netherlands, today it symbolizes a broader pride in the country and in being Dutch! So there you go, maybe you've learned something new today :) I hope you all have a wonderful day! xoxo