It's impossible to sum up April 30th in a few snapshots...it's not just the sights,
it's the sounds too. Everywhere you go there's great music...
with a great beat...
at high volume!
I've been told that the whole country goes crazy...
but I've only seen the Amsterdammers at play...
People start drifting uptown on the evening of the 29th and a lot of them stay out
until the evening of the 30th. And I've never seen so much Orange!
There's a DJ or music show on almost every street corner...and on the canals too!
Click on a picture to enlarge it in a new screen.
Dam Square - looking towards the Royal Palace. There's a huge stage in front of the Palace where there's a classical/opera mix on for three nights before the 30th.
And as the music changes, someone throws a switch and the colours projected on the building change too! Notice the huge display screens on each side...
Museumplein, where there's a free concert hosted by 538, one of the better local radio stations. You can just see the top of the Rijksmuseum above the stage.
Walking into Leidseplein...it's busy now but in a couple of hours you'd not be able to force your way through the crowd.
The canals are busy too...each boat has a DJ and huge speakers! Here they're setting off some flares to go with the misic.
Two minutes later, they've ditched the flares. The speakers are the huge boxes at the back end of the boat and you can 'feel' the beat in your chest...
Another free concert with a DJ outside the Stadhuis / Muziektheater on the Amstel river.
Crossing the Amstel...plenty of traffic on the river. Queens Day is also the biggest car-boot/market that I've seen. People all over the city are selling things.
Ahh, yes, the guys on Prinsengracht playing Scooter (currently my favourite group!) at high volume.
Leidsestraat before it got too busy!
There are live groups everywhere too. These lads on the barge on Kloveniersburgwal where very good! Way down in the distance is Nieuwmarkt.
A 'parade' of boats...