Good god I’m hung-over.

Koninginnedag, or Queen’s Day is officially over which means everyone will have to go back to drinking without the convenience of the make-shift beer gardens that littered Amsterdam just a day ago.

WHAT THE HECK IS A ‘QUEEN’S DAY’?

In celebration of the Queen’s birthday (actually, the mother of Queen) the Dutch take to the streets and wear orange crowns & t-shirts occasionally picking up a free orange nap sacks from official Queen’s Day Crew Members.

What can you put in these sacks? Handful after handful of used crap being sold in the streets. Residents spend most of the morning hosting a giant Amsterdam yard sale with all of the shit they don’t want anymore for just a couple of Euros a pop. Kids also set up stands and showcase their talents who (much to my surprise) are actually very talented!

In the afternoon, it’s drinking time and those who can’t find a place on the street get on a boat and play bad German rave music as loud as they can:

AIN’T NO PARTY LIKE A QUEEN’S DAY PARTY

COZ A QUEEN’S DAY PARTY DON’T STOP

Yes sir, on Queen’s Day not even a boat-load of tourists can scare away a raft-parade of drunken orange sailors.

SPEAKING OF QUEENS…
Here are some highlights from the Drag Queen Olympics’ Handbag Toss on the Homomonument, a marble triangle that is in the middle of a church square. I can’t remember who won, but the best part was walking out into the street after the festivities were over and having two drag queens (one riding a bicycle and the other sitting on the handlebars) barrelling down Prinsengracht screaming, “Get out of the way!” in Dutch. It’s the only thing I’ve understood since I’ve been here.