Queen's Day in Amsterdam

It is not what I expected. The Queen's Day is a party day...but it is also a city-wide garage sale day. People would camp overnight like going to some Star Wars film, just to get a good spot to sell their stuff. If you know your vintage antiques, you can find some good gem. I saw lots of very old European stuff that I would love to own, but in no way be willing to lug it back to the States.

Queen's Day in Amsterdam

What you see is that lots of people wear the color orange. This is because the royal family is from the 'House of Oranje'. On this particular day, in addition to the Holland national flag, you will also see a small orange flag.

People Dressed in Orange

After a long day of sale, it is tradition for people to spend all the money they have earned on a nice dinner. Thus, most of the restaurant were packed. However, I did find a restaurant that had open tables. A very yuppy place...but the crowd was great. Food was also quite good and not too pricey.

Countdown to Take-off!!

Only ten more days, and off I go to Europe. It is still kind of hard to believe, but I am starting to get excited. I have just started my ritual where I just open up my suitcase and dump in stuff that I will need on the trip, as I remember them. Then two days before the trip, I will go through them and toss out any unnecessary baggage. It is quite effective.

Right now, I don't plan to bring my lovely Powerbook on the train as I travel through Berlin, Prague, Vienna, and Munich...fearing that I may encounter theft either on the train or at the hostels. So I am frantically running around asking friends and family to borrow Compact Flash Cards for my digital camera. I intend to take lots of pictures...and upload them for you folks to see.

The only drag is that the train rides are so long. I was very tempted to get a Sony PSP just to help me get through my boredom...then sell it on eBay when I return to the States. But I must have self control....