April 27th is King’s Day in the Netherlands and is a big celebration! For my American friends, think of King’s Day as the Dutch version of the 4th of July. This year is a little different than a normal year we have been told, but the city was still totally crazy!
To celebrate, we decided to go to a park and meet up with some new friends! I have been all over the expat groups on Facebook to meet new people. Last Saturday I went on a wine walk with some girls from a Women in Amsterdam group. The wine walk started at 2 and I got home and 8 and probably had a little too much fun-whoops. It was a good way to meet people though and that is how we had a little group to celebrate King’s Day!
We got to the park around 1 and it was nice that they had circles mapped out to help control people and it wasn’t super busy when we arrived. Although, by 4 it was bumping! We ran to get a few drinks and run to the bathroom outside the park and came back to all the entrances closed off my the police and all of our stuff inside…. thankfully a new friend was on her way out and brought our stuff for us as the police could care less. I have mixed opinions on closing the parks. On one hand, it was starting to get busy, but only in a few sections and honestly better for people to party outside than giant indoor parties. Plus, we were about to learn how the city center was much crazier!
On a positive note, the city was fun to walk around and see all of the Dutch flags waving proudly!
We walked home from the park and then later went out for gelato near the center! Thankfully, our street was not too rowdy, but a few blocks away it was a giant party. I didn’t really like all of the garbage and broken glass all over- you have to be careful where you step!
A fun day and now I know better what to expect for next year!
🧡melanie
Smiles from Miles Away 
sounds like a fun day!
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