The plan was to go to Amsterdam and do a photo shoot on King’s Day while walking past all the shenanigans that were going on there. Unfortunately it was cold and cloudy and King’s Day is just no fun when the sun doesn’t shine. So we decided to stay in Haarlem.
Of course we missed really good places to show you as we always choose to go left when we should go right and vice versa. We got some nice atmosphere photos anyway.
Below: Our street.
Below: My outfit for King’s Day. Red, white and blue with a touch of orange, all the national colours. The shirt is one of the purchases from the shop Addicted in Paris a couple of weeks ago. The earrings are made from cardboard but Marcella tweaked them for me (different button on my ear, different chain to hold the pendant). The brooch is from Essentiel Antwerp as is the little bag.
Below: As we entered the park where a lot of festivities were held, we ran into these women having fun, drinking somthing orange, which probably tasted horrible.
Below: They had a little girl with them who was selling slices of cake with whipped cream for 50 cents. We each had one. There were cupcakes too (€1), but we preferred the slice which was delicious.
We were off to a good start. Full of calories but one cannot be bothered with calories on a day like this.
Below: Especially the little children, always so endearing. Look at her, totally absorbed by her cupcake, face full of sweet food.
Below: Another little girl wanted to make her acquaintance. Everybody in the whole country is wearing something red, white and blue or something orange.
Below: It was busy and I was checking out all the different stalls or should I say blankets?
Below: There was one with a sign: ‘Have your portrait done for €1.’ They showed me this portrait as an example and we asked bewildered “Who was this?”
Below: “Me” this lady said with a smile. Whahaha. We refrained.
Below: More orange: a father and his wig. Check out the little girl behind him with the orange dots on her face. Very original.
You can buy so many children’s toys for next to nothing that it pays to stock up for birthdays and Christmas if you have little children.
Below: I got interested in a game.
Oh, the sneakers are new and by Zadig & Voltaire. Far too expensive but I have been looking for something like them for a year.
Below: No idea what the man said but it must have been funny.
Below: To my surprise I could pay with a QR code. That’s new and very clever as hardly anybody has any loose change these days.
Below: Even though the next two photos are very grainy, I want to show them anyway. Ron had his finger on the ISO button with this grainy result.
The man behind me is holding ropes attached to bears. I had to pay 50 cents and he would drop the bears one by one and I had to catch them, not knowing which one would fall. With every caught bear you got two sweets as a reward. The things they come up with.
Below: GOT ONE!!!!
Below: See how easy it is to join the madness?
Below: Ah, sweet. He is king on his grandfather’s shoulders, clutching his dinosaur.
Below: This sign said (amongst other things) that you could get a compliment for 50 cents.
Below: The compliment she paid me was: “You look very stylish” haha. Totally worth the 50 cents.
Below: As we left, we spotted these guys. Anything orange is good.
You can imagine that it was pretty cold, walking around with no coat. I had a shirt on underneath but still, it was COLD. Here is a link if you want to see King’s Day photos of 2014, when we did a marvellous shoot in Amsterdam. And King’s Day 2018 wasn’t half bad either.
What happened in my life this week
Saturday was a sunny day but with no dates, no friends to see. That drives me to town to have a cappuccino somewhere and when I wander through town, I see shops and the sales people whom I know. Long story short: I bought another jumper (sweater) as I thought it was unusual and looked good on me. After this purchase I have put a lid on my spendings (again) and transferred money to my savings account as I have to do better.
Below: We still enjoy the flowers our friends brought us Friday last week. Isn’t clematis a beautiful flower?
Sunday was visiting-mum-day. She was preparing to have her ears cleaned so she had cotton wool with oil in her ears and couldn’t use her hearing aid. That meant raising my voice too much so we played a game. You don’t have to talk much with Rummikub.
Spending the day with mum, meant I missed the flower parade. (I could have gone late in the afternoon but I totally forgot.) My friend Marla sent me the picture below of one of the parade floats. If you want to know more about this parade or see a couple more floats, here is the link.
Below: A bee on flowers.
Monday nothing happened. It took me all morning to do my fitness exercises as I started late and was checking social media all the time. Stupid. Didn’t do much. Just some blogging work.
Tuesday was the same as Monday; only household chores kept me busy. Washing, ironing, vacuuming, that kind of thing. I walked with Watson to the vet to get some medicine for an infection and when we got home I noticed it had fallen out of my pocket. I cycled back along the same route and sure enough, there it was on a bench where I had taken a pebble out of my sneakers.
So far this report is really exciting, isn’t it?
Ron came home Tuesday afternoon with two photos of preparations of King’s Day. There is ‘free market’ through the whole country on King’s Day and all the children want the best spot to sell their goods. So the day before King’s Day you see such ‘signs’ on the best spots. It says Occupied, usually followed by the name of the claimer.
Wednesday it was King’s Day (the 27th) and that is what this post is about.
In the afternoon the little splint behind my front teeth broke. Yikes. Everything is closed on this bank holiday so I had to wait until the next day to have it fixed.
We had our friends Georg and Marla over for dinner and Ron cooked. Alas, our oven isn’t heating properly so the food was lukewarm. Such a shame of the lovely food and all the work he had put into it.
Thursday I got out of bed 6.20 a.m. and that is early for a pensioner. I drove to Amsterdam to be at the orthodontist when they opened but the receptionist called me as I was nearly there. “No appointment, sorry, we cannot help you.” Darned. I thought I could sweet-talk my way in. Had to come back in the afternoon. It was fixed in 3 minutes. Just a drop of glue on it as it wasn’t really broken.
That day I finally met Marja. We had to postpone our date so many times. We had lunch at Meneer Frans, chatted and chatted and had coffee. Below: The photo was taken against the light, so the colours are off. We tried to sit in the garden at first but I thought it was too cold.
Friday was ‘a hospital day’. I had to take mum to the hospital for a check-up on her heel. The wound hasn’t improved but it didn’t get worse either. We will wait another 2 weeks before taking major decisions.
Below: Mum, waiting in the hospital.
After I had taken mum home I had to rush to Marianne who also had to go to hospital for an injection in her frozen shoulder. I stressed out when there was a road accident on the route to her house but we made it in time.
Below: Marianne.
Below: Marianne took a photo of me as well. (Link to the original post of this outfit.)
The video below concludes the week.
Greetje
You look fantastic, very lively in all the pics and King’s Day looks like fun. Love Marianne’s house too. The shirt is really you – it would drown me but I’m much shorter than you! Hope your mum’s foot gets better soon.
King’s Day is a very lively and active day, always fun to participate.
We are working on mum’s foot.
Happy King’s Day! I love all the oranges in this post (the colour, not the fruit!).
I hope your mum is doing better. Ugh, a tooth emergency is my nightmare – I’m glad they were able to fit you in.
King’s Day is always fun, but more when it is warm and sunny. Always tricky in the Netherlands in April.
I am hoping with you for mum.
The tooth emergency was painless and quick.
King’s Day certainly looks like a fun day out for everyone! I love that everybody wears something orange. I really like your outfit though—those skinny jeans are great with the stripe.
Hugs
Suzy xx
They weren’t jeans, more like a legging/skinny trousers. The fabric is different from jeans.
Instead of orange, you can also wear red/white/blue.
What a great holiday! The most exciting thing they do here for Presidents Day is have mattress sales, LOL. Your blue shirt is fabulous.
I hope you get some definitive news soon about your mum’s foot. How worrisome! It’s so restricting to have foot pain.
Have a great week!
Mattress sales as in discount on buying a mattress? Or can you display goods on a mattress and sell them?
I am hoping with you for mum.
Hahaha I’ve only seen those involving discounts on buying the mattresses! Although the other sounds plausible!
We put blankets or a piece of fabric on the ground and sell from there, so why not?
You did look very stylish — love that blue shirt! Great King’s Day photos. What a creative way to celebrate a national holiday.
I do hope that your mom soon feels better.
Noblesse oblige Cynthia. With my blog I don’t want to go out celebrating dressed in a sloppy T-shirt and jeans. It has to be a bit better than that. And I am hoping with you for mum.
I enjoyed seeing all the celebrations taking place for King’s day. On Victoria Day weekend here, which I guess is similar to your King’s day, there are fireworks, but not much else. It’s really just an excuse for a long weekend.
I would be tempted to give the “Compliment” person $5 just so I could get an ego boost 😉
I love the colour’s in Marianne’s home!
Hahaha, you are right, that girl deserved more than 50 cents for her compliment.
Marianne has a very colourful living room. We are much alike in this sense.
The Dutch surely know how to celebrate! I love the orange curl wig and the orange tulle skirt of the little girl. So fun. I never saw an orange tulle skirt before. Looking at your outfits it’s hard to say which one is my favorite. I love your floral pants with the stripe down the leg! So cool!
Those trousers with the stripe down the leg are a hand-me-down from friend and neighbour Froukje. She is more a fan of solid, earth colours so these trousers were way out of her comfort zone. I liked them a lot on her when she showed them (she had already bought them), but after a year (I think), she passed them on to me. Not really her thing.
Where can I buy a compliment for 50 cents?
Hahaha, that was so funny. And the fact that she gave me a compliment which was so nice for me, always being busy with style and outfits.
It was a new idea (to me) on one of the King’s Day fairs.
Wat een geweldige impressie van een heerlijke Koningsdag. Heb er van genoten.
En zoals altijd zie je er weer kleurrijk uit. Jij kan het hebben 🙂
Dank je wel. Ik had het nogal koud zo zonder jas haha. En ik had naar de Vijfhoek gemoeten want Kenaupark heb ik nou wel gehad.
Op Koningsdag (en vroeger Koninginnedag) probeer ik toch een stylish geheel van de nationale kleuren-outfit te maken. Noblesse oblige haha.
Lovely day with adorable looking children.
Love the shirt. Versatile with slacks or jeans.
Thank you. King’s Day is indeed a lovely day. When you click through to the celebration in 2014 (bottom of the post) you will see so many more children.
The shirt is a go-to shirt. Easy.
King’s Day looks like so much fun! Thank you for sharing it with us. The “portrait” is very strange looking, but I love the lady’s orange “Amour” top! I also love your blue striped shirt. It looks so comfortable and versatile; easy to dress up or down, I think. I do hope your mother’s heel begins to show some improvement soon.
King’s Day is fun. If you ever want to come and celebrate it in Amsterdam, you won’t believe your eyes. Just note that it is on the 27th of April (it used to be a couple of days later).
I have no idea how to dress up this shirt but I don’t mind. I am in jeans most of the time anyway.
Loved all of these King’s Day photos. It looks like such a fun day, especially for the kids!
I really like that blue and white shirt. You’ll get a lot of wear from it, I think!
King’s Day is always special. But sunshine would have made it better. Amsterdam is the best place to celebrate. Lots of tourists want to join the fun and it still often happens that they get the day wrong. It used to be on the 30th of April when Beatrix was Queen and it was called Queen’s Day. Now Willem-Alexander is King and his birthday is on the 27th of April. So sore for the tourists who arrive after this party day.
The blue and white shirt is an easy throw-on.
Hi Greetje, always a special day, King’s Day. Everybody is putting on something orange and a happy face. After 2 years it seems a happy day again. I love,love your red pant with flowers! Do you know the tosti way to dress? It means top and bottom 1 colour and in between any colour maching the shoes. Easy not?! CU soon!
I thought it was a shame that the sun didn’t come out, but I bet it did in other parts of the country.
And I have never heard of the tosti way to dress haha.
Your pictures really gave me a feel for the celebration. Thanks for taking us with you! Love your blue shirt – just my style.
I would love to do reports all the time. I missed my vocation as a journalist.
The blue and white shirt is a classic, but this one is with a twist. The length, width and the paneling at the front are all different from a classic shirt.