This blog covers April 27th and 28th.
I learned a few weeks ago that King’s Day would be celebrated during my stay in The Netherlands. I also learned that Amsterdam is the center of the festivities (though most towns put on some sort of event), so I made an effort to plan a visit to Amsterdam for the weekend. Hostel and hotel prices were insanely priced when I first looked (about 3x the normal rate), so I was very happy that my new friend Owen offered a place in his house when I told him I would be coming.
King’s Day celebrates the birthday of the king of The Netherlands: currently King Willem-Alexander, who celebrated his 57th birthday this year. Traditionally everyone wears orange (for national pride) and people take to the streets to party (which means drink). King’s Day is also the one day of the year people are allowed to sell their own goods on the street, so in the morning the sidewalks are filled with people selling their old clothes (and toys for kids). It seemed kind of strange for a holiday about the King’s birthday to feature garage sales, but I do appreciate the sustainability aspect that encourages reuse.
I left the Cornelissen farm for Amsterdam at 8:30 am Saturday morning, and got into Amsterdam around 11am. Getting to Owen’s house took 1 bus, 2 trains, 1 metro, and 1 tram, but really didn’t feel like too much of a hassle given how easy the changeovers were. Once I got there (and delivered flowers as a gift, I ran out of cheese to give), we headed back out on bikes towards the city center. It was really nice to ride a bike in a new place and not have to look at the map on my phone for a change. After picking up Owen’s friend Sariya (sorry if I spell your name wrong, there’s a good chance I spell other names in this blog wrong too, so sorry in advance), we made our way to Leidseplein. This was a full circle moment, as it was the same spot I met Owen and Sariya over a month earlier. We then walked to Vondelpark (passing my first hostel, another deja vu moment) and entered the throngs of people.
It was still early in the day, so things weren’t too crazy yet. Rather than people selling old goods in the park, people were lining the sides of the path selling homemade food, and manning mini carnival games. There were also lots of kids playing music, which was cute even if many of them were not very good (Sariya also reminisced on how she was that kid at one time, though I’m sure she played much better). After a few loops around the park, which took a while given how congested it was, and a stop at the grocery store for some food, we ended up at Niels’ (a friend of Owen) carnival booth. He was running a ladder carnival game (you know the one with the ladder that ends in two points, and is nearly impossible to cross) and was making good money hustling people. He would show people (the main 2 demographics were 10 year olds and drunk 30 year old men) how easy it was to climb to the top of the ladder, then proceed to collect his 2 euro fee and watch the participants stumble in terrific fashion. I was smart enough not to waste my 2 euros; the experience on the sidelines watching everyone fail (while eating croissants with hummus) was priceless. Niels ended up making over 300 euros (each person paid 2 euros to play, and I saw only one person succeed and earn the 20 euro prize).
While at the park, I was on my phone trying to coordinate a meetup with Marianna, Esra, and Zael (all from Fruitweelde), who had all decided to come into town for the event. Eventually we left Vondelpark, and started to walk around the city center, with a few more of Owen’s friends joining the group. After some time walking around, we found Marianna (quite the impressive feat given the crowds), and got a quick bite at a sit down pizza restaurant. We next began a quest to find Esra and Zael, which was again no small task while navigating the busy streets, which were slowly becoming more rowdy as the day went on.
In due time we did find them, and had to plan our next course of action. Coming in clutch again, Owen had plans for us to meet up with another one of his friends who would soon be ending his shift at the brewery he worked at. Taking bikes would have been nice, but was not possible to do in the crowded streets. The walk ended up taking 45 minutes. Once we got there, we met Leon, had a beer and played pool and backgammon (I’d be lying if I said that was my first beer of the day).
The beer was good, but did not compare to some of the Belgian ones I had. I’ve taken photos of most of the beers I’ve drank on this trip, if I have the time/energy, I may do a beer ranking list at some point. After some time at the brewery, Marianna, Esra, and Zael were ready to leave, and we said our goodbyes.
They wanted to go back to the city center before they left for their farms (Marianna was on a new one, while Esra and Zael were still at Fruitweelde), but I decided to stay with Owen and his friends. Our next (and final) stop was Leon’s house, which was actually a houseboat. We walked another 30 min to get there. The roads in this eastern part of town were empty, but our bikes were still across town at Leidseplein. If you were thinking biking wouldn’t have been a good idea anyway since we were leaving a brewery, you’re wrong for two reasons. First, it takes more than a few beers to give me pause before biking. Second, I don’t think any amount of beer would give Amsterdamers, the group of people I was with, pause before getting on a bike. Regardless, our best option was to walk.
Leon’s houseboat (technically his parents’) was super nice. Contrary to popular belief, not all people in Amsterdam live on a boat; it’s relatively rare and usually priced at a premium. Even though the boat wasn’t too big, it had a cool vibe to it.
Eventually more of Owen and Leon’s friends came; I’d say there were about 12 people there at most at any one time. We ate some Domino’s, played some card games, and drank some beverages. People talked about swimming in the canal (which I would have 100% done if I brought a change of clothes), but no one actually followed through. It was also super nice of everyone to talk in English for most of the time on my behalf.
Around midnight we left, catching the last tram back to Leidseplein, and biked the 5 miles back to Owen’s place (reminder that my routes are viewable at the bottom of the site – actual start and end points are not shown, so don’t go looking for Owen’s house lol). We biked through Vondelpark on the way; it was eerie seeing the park silent after it had been filled with throngs of people only hours earlier. Ok it wasn’t perfectly silent, there were trash crews picking up the loads of debris laying about (they were almost done, which I found impressive). Biking through the city at night was quite nice; the bike paths were empty and a gentle breeze kept us cool on the warm spring night (warm meaning 60 degrees). I went to bed once we got back to Owen’s place, as I was well past my typical bedtime on the farm.
The next morning we slept in a bit, then hung around at Owen’s house. We played games on his VR headset and Owen showed me his pet snakes (funnily enough he has pet rabbits too; I can’t imagine they get along well).
I was trying to make plans with Zael for the afternoon (he had spent the night in Amsterdam with a friend as well), but things never materialized. Eventually, Owen and his older brother decided to take me back downtown, and we ended up going to a pool bar (to play pool, not drink). Over the next hour, I lost in successive matches to Owen and Vincent. I’ve never claimed to be good at pool, but it hurt to lose two in a row. Owen knows he’s going to lose if we ever play again.
After some pool, we began a hunt for a Hema selling hot rookworsts. It’s just a smoked sausage, but Owen and Vincent insisted I hadn’t experience Dutch culture until I tried one. We spent the better part of 2 hours visiting 3 different Hemas to find one that sold rookworst (Hema is like Target, and not all of them have a food counter). Unlike my quest for the poster at Keukenhof, we successfully located rookworsts at the third Hema. The verdict: it’s good, but not 2 hours of walking good. Nonetheless, I was happy to spend the time exploring with Owen and Vincent.
The walk itself was fun too: Vincent had a habit of walking far ahead of Owen and me, so we would sometimes stop walking or stop behind a shop and see how long it would take Vincent to notice we were no longer following him. What made it more funny is that we were able to pull off the trick several times. Don’t worry, it was all in good fun and Vincent laughed (he also checked over his shoulder a lot more often).
Our final (and successful) Hema was inside Amsterdam Centraal, so it ended up being the right moment for me to say my goodbyes and head back up north to the farm. Owen, his friends, and family were all great hosts, and I am very appreciative of them letting me tag along.
My plans for the future haven’t changed since my update at the end of the last blog. I’ll be biking to Giethoorn for the weekend, and then will spend a few more days on the farm before my flight back to Chicago next Thursday. If anyone has any last recommendations (for places/people/things to do) or requests (for photos, gifts, etc.), this may be your last chance to speak up.
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