Bill and Gail's Damtastic Adventures

My parents were my first official visitors. 

There they are, waving from across the street as we take pictures of each other:

Gratuitous balcony shots:

For their first meal, we had a delicious dinner at one of my favorite restaurants: 

Mom enjoyed the local brew:

Dad enjoyed the local french fry/mayonaise combo. Barf!

Ready for his plate of meat:

Saturday was the ultimate tourist day: Van Gogh museum, canals, flower market, Dutch snacks, and a visit to Heidi's houseboat, of course!

City views from Blue° on the Singel canal:

Where I made Dad try bitterballen. 

Excited to try:

The first bite:

Holy Hotness!

Hmmmmm... 

He likes them!

On Mother's Day, I invited everyone over for a Meet the Parents Brunch: 

(I can put on a good cooking show when necessary!)

The beautiful bouquets that the girls brought for Mom 

(that I got to keep!):

We followed up brunch with a boat tour:

Bikes!

Look! It's a traditional Dutch girl on her houseboat! 

(Or it's Heidi. From California.)

After a weekend full of blue skies and gorgeous sunshine in the Dam, Mom and Dad headed off to Belgium and France by train. On the way back to Amsterdam they were rerouted through Rotterdam, and I may have lost them for a few hours, but they were safely found :)

We rented them bikes and they rode all the way to Amstelveen (where my school is) and back. No parents were injured during the making of this blog entry :)

Dad was a bit of a show off: 

Overlooking the crew teams in the Bos:

Traditional Dutch photo op. I smell a Christmas card!

Wandering the canals:

After our bike intensive morning, we treated ourselves to fresh mint tea and apple pie at Winkel. It is indescribably delicious. 

Perfect slag (whipped cream) to pie ratio:

Nom nom nom:

More blue skies and sunshine along the canals:

A haunting museum visit:

And one last Dutch meal. Moeder's is a kitschy little restaurant decorated entirely with pictures of mothers. 

Thanks for coming to visit!

xoxo

Koninginnenacht followed by Koninginnedag

So Queen's Day (Koninginnedag) is Queen Beatrix's birthday, and is always celebrated on April 30th. The festivities kick off the night before (Koninginnenacht) with music, parties, and lots of orange throughout the city. The canals are clogged with boats full of revelers, and if you're hanging out on a houseboat, strangers might just pull up alongside and hop on. 

Kind of like this:

On Queen's Day, the Dutchies wake up crazy early and start marking off the street with masking tape, claiming their territory for their tables and wares.  There are used books, clothes, crafts, food, drinks, and a wild assortment of dancers, singers and street performers. Nothing costs more than a few euros. It's like the world's largest garage sale. Nothing says Happy Birthday, Queen like a flea market, right?

The day started with poffertjes. Yum!

Early morning live music:

 Possibly my favorite part of the day. A teeny, tiny breakdancer. He was serious about his craft...

Shopping:

People on stilts!

 These tasted just like creamsicles:

(You would have liked them Shawn Hobbs!)

Hmmmmm...

And then there was the orange chaos on the canals:

 Except for this guy, who just wanted to read his morning paper:

Toes, not in the canal water. You wouldn't want to know what we saw being dumped in there. Seriously.

Captain Jack Sparrow likes Queen's Day:

And really, who doesn't look good in a full body spandex unitard?

Dutch multitasking: brushing your teeth while driving a boat. 

Pirates:

A couch. On a boat. Only in Amsterdam...

He was wearing pants. They were just tiny.

 More pirates:

 Traffic jam:

 Lovely ladies, clad in orange:

Orange overalls aren't for everyone, but this guy pulls them off:

Dogs like Queen's Day too:

I'm not sure this can actually be called a boat:

 Midday, we decided we would have a better view from the roof of the boat:

The Noordemarkt was a little bit crowded:

I must have one of these dresses for next year:

 I ♥ Queen's Day!