queensday in amsterdam...!

Over the weekend, I travelled to Amsterdam! Saturday the 29th was Queensday, which is a big national holiday where the whole country pretty much turns into one huge street party. One of my classmates, Koen, is Dutch and happened to own a boat in Amsterdam with a couple of his friends. He invited us to come over for the weekend and spend Queensday on his boat out cruising along the canals of Amsterdam.

Having lived in the Netherlands for a few years, I knew that this offer was really a unique opportunity, so I booked my ticket. In total there were 22 MBAs there that weekend. I was lucky enough to be able to stay with some family friends who have a beautiful house on the nicest canal in Amsterdam (it's a tough life, I know), Thanks Joe!!

On friday we went to Keukenhof, the large gardens that are full of tulips and only open for two months out of the year. The flowers were in fine form, and I just kept taking photos!

Friday night we met up with all the classmates for dinner and drinks, the number of people in the streets was quite amazing. Saturday we wandered around for a bit in the morning, and then we all met to get on Koen's boat in the early afternoon. It was a pretty small boat to have 22 people piled into it, but we managed to not sink. We cruised around the canals for hours that day, with hundreds of other boats on the canals, and hundreds of thousands of people in the streets. For Queensday, everyone wears orange in tribute to the House of Orange - the Dutch royal family. It was such a fabulous to experience like a local. Here are a few photos to give you a small idea of the madness out there. A great weekend away!