If you weren’t locked up in your room yesterday studying, as you should be, because that’s what we came to Holland for, there was no way you could have missed all the festivities outside. It was Queen’s day!

On this day we here in Holland and also at the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, celebrate the Queen’s birthday. It is a yearly national holiday for the Dutch Kingdom, each year celebrated on the 30th of April.

All though the Queen Beatrix was born on January 31st, the holiday is observed on 30 April as it was the birthday of her mother and predecessor, Juliana. And because of the warm April month all the festivities can take place outside.

One of the most popular happenings taking place on this day is the flea market, which entails that anyone can sell stuff on the streets without any official permit. Another popular happening in the visits and walks of the Queen and the Royal Family.  Yesterday the Queen paid a visit to Rhenen and Veenendaal. In order to watch this you could have gone to these cities, which had streets filled with activities (which would usually start right as the Queen walks by), or you could’ve just watched it on television and not miss any glimpse or side information. Every now and then you could see the Royal Family participating and really engaging with the public, which really portrays the unity of the Dutch culture.

I myself, watched this on television while getting ready to help my friend sell some cupcakes after which I hit the city to go shopping and just watch other people do their yearly routine of crazy stuff.

Though my initial plan was not to sell cupcakes, but just buy some and leave right after I fell in love with the taste and look and could not leave them alone.

I ended up selling quite a few, but eating more in the process. For those of you who do not want to miss out on this amazing taste visit http://lecupcakecouture.blogspot.com/ for further info. She also makes cupcakes for special events or just whenever you feel like eating some cupcakes, cake-pops or cakes.

At night the streets in Rotterdam cleared up pretty fast as some headed to the clubs and pubs (which were all filled with special events and performances), while others went to bed. I went right along with the latter. Since this week’s Tuesday became the new Monday. I could not afford to party too hard on the new Sunday (Monday)!