Up until Saturday, King’s Day was predicted to be rainy and miserable. The weather, however, blessed King Willem-Alexander, and his birthday, a major public holiday in the Netherlands, was graced with blue skies and warm(ish) temperatures.
The Dutch tradition is to spend King’s Day with the masses in the city center selling second-hand goods, drinking beer and littering.
We went our own way.
Omitting the crowds, rubbish and street sales, we spent the entire day in Utrecht’s (surprisingly deserted) Wilhelmina Park with other expats (and a couple of Dutch ex-expats) barbecuing meat and drinking Prosecco. There was not a bitterballen or mayonnaise-coated patat in sight, but in a nod to Dutch tradition, we did wear orange.
We were all outsiders together and it was absolutely perfect.
Gefeliciteerd Koning Willem-Alexander!
