Queen’s Day

Well it is a small world at times. I was on my way to meet up with a friend in the center of Amsterdam and was on my bike riding towards the center when I heard my name being yelled. It seems I had ridden right in front of a friend that was out celebrating Queen’s day. I locked up my bike and walked with Jeff and the group of people he was with. We made it to the start of Utrechtstraat and the first big crowd. The group I had joined headed into the crowd and that was the last I saw of the group.

Queen’s day for anyone that does not know about is to celebrate the Queen of Holland’s birthday. It does not really take place on the Queen’s birthday but rather on the Queen mother’s birthday. The Queen’s birthday falls in February so not the best time for a outdoor party. Queen’s Day is a national holiday and a really good excuses to have a big party. Amsterdam is a great place to be if you like beer and crowds but it is also import to not be scared to wear the color orange. The royal family in Holland are descendents from the House of Orange and orange is really the national color of Holland. Amsterdam and I think the entire country turns orange on Queen’s day.



This is a picture of Utrechtstraat a ways down from where I had lost my friend. I was not surprised to lose the group. I have never had a Queen’s day where we have managed to keep a group together. I was headed to meet another friend so once I looked for Jeff for awhile I finished the beer I had bought while I was looking, bought another and moved on.

Nick has a couple of children and his son Tom is currently suffering from a broken leg so they had given up on fighting through the crowds by the time I got close to where they were. I spent most of the rest of Queen’s day setting in the sun in front of Nick’s house enjoying beer, the sunshine and the good company.

I only took a couple of pictures this Queen’s day and none of them really special. On the way to Nick’s house I pasted by something I have talked a lot about and figured it was a good time to get a picture.



I have tried to describe this a number of times. The gray things on the left side of this picture are urinals. I think they are just a fantastic thing when you are in a place with much beer drinking. No waiting or having to pay to use the toilet as long as you are a guy. They are at a number of different places throughout the city and not in any sort of a special place just on the sidewalk. You can relieve yourself while having a conversation to anyone that is walking past. Now they just need to figure out some way for women to enjoy this luxury.

Home in Holland

Just a quick note to let anyone know who is still reading this blog I have returned to Holland. I rented an apartment in the area of Amsterdam known as the Pijp. I had only seen pictures of the apartment when agreeing to rent the place but was happy that it seems bigger than it looked in the pictures and it has worked out really well.

I went to get my bikes the day following my return to Holland. Even after setting in an open bike shed for a year in a half the bikes where in really good shape. I had to put some oil on the lock to be able to get the key to work but I was thrilled that they were still there and had not been scavenged for parts.

Since I am home and looking for work I am not sure the traveling Biervoormij blog is valid any longer. I think I may do an entry from time to time but for the most part this is the end of the story. I still feel this was a great decision to take a long time away from work and travel. I may have not made it to all the places I had at one time thought I might visit but I also saw and experienced a lot of things I never could have imagined. I am still a lover of travel and still have a lot of the world I want to experience. Maybe in 5 or 10 year I will take a long break to do this again.

Thanks to anyone that took the time to travel along with me via the blog. And you may want to thank my parents for being my blog editors and catching at least some of my big mistakes. I can’t really say I have enjoyed the writing of the blog but hopeful I will enjoy reading my bad writing in the future as a good reminder of my great experiences.

Annapolis

Maggie and I decided to go to Annapolis on the other day she took off from work. I have never been to Annapolis and Maggie likes the town and had not visited the Maryland State capital. It seemed like a good choice of something different for both of us so we started by visiting the capital. This is a picture of the room used for the house of representatives/congress.

I was thinking while here does anyone know who their state representative or senator is? I have at times known the name of my senator or representative in Washington but I don’t think I have ever known anyone’s name at the state level.

After a good lunch we spent the afternoon walking around in the Naval Academy. I found a number of the buildings impressive and enjoyed the memorial hall. Here is one of the pictures I took while at the Naval Academy.

I enjoyed my day in Annapolis but also seem to enjoy time with Dave and Maggie. They are really good friends and they don’t even mind putting up with me when I come to the DC area. Here is a picture of Dave and Maggie, don’t they make a cute couple.

District of Columbia

A couple of days when I was in the DC area I went into the city. Dave was nice enough to drive me into a bus station near his work where I could catch a bus to downtown. I could have caught a bus to the metro and then taken that in but since the bus only made 2 stops and was cheaper than the metro I figure it was the way to go. It was an ok commute but not sure I could deal with a 2 hour commute every day if I worked in Downtown DC.

The first day I went into town I stopped by the Ford Theater and stood in line to get a ticket and was surprise that the line was so long. With so many things to do in DC I did not think this would be high on others list of sites to see and it is one of those places that I have never visited in DC. It turns out the day that I went was the anniversary of the day Lincoln was shot April 14. I guess if I would have memorized my historical dates while in school the crowd would not have surprised me. I returned to the Theater prior to my ticket entry time and stood in line until we were let in. They had a brief skit about the day that Lincoln was shot. It was 4 people recalling their memories of the day. This is a picture of the booth Lincoln was in when he was shot.

I also visited the house where Lincoln died after going to the Theater and don’t think it was worth the wait to get in but heard the house had been a lot busier than normal due to the anniversary.

I also visited the World War II Memorial that was been built since I have lived in the area. It is an interesting memorial but I think I may have expected more for some reason. When I arrived at the memorial there was a band playing and I really enjoyed listing to the different patriotic songs while at the memorial.

I also just wonder around a bit looking at the different memorials and the while house. It was a bit rainy and cold so not the best day to be site seeing outside.

The other day I went downtown was a wonderful day for walking. The sun was shinning and it was rather warm. I toke the bus to Roselyn and then walked across the Key bridge into Georgetown. When I had been looking at the national parks page I had seen the C & O canal (Chesapeake & Ohio) and had never visited it in so decided today was the day. I walk along the path next to the canal for a bit with the great weather it was a really enjoyable thing to do. Here is a picture of the canal as it goes through Georgetown.

When walking on the path I saw these 2 trees just full of birds. I don’t know with all the trees around why it was these 2 trees that the birds seem to pick to rest on but these trees where loaded. I also have no idea of what kind of birds they are so will just call them Potomac Eagles.

I walked to a place called Fletchers Cove. There were a lot of people fishing in this area. I just took a seat at one of the picnic tables watched the fisherman and enjoyed the sunshine until it was time to be heading back to Virginia.