King's Day in the Netherlands

Today was a fun day. As you see from the title it was King's Day, which could be compared to our Fourth of July. It is the biggest holiday in the Netherlands and it seems like the whole country turns orange and red, white and blue (the color orange comes from the name of the Dutch royal house: The House of Orange-Nassau.  It is always celebrated on The King's birthday.

The King and Queen of the Netherlands

Flag of the Netherlands

So this morning, at 9:00 all of us left to go to downtown Ede to celebrate.  Pretty much every town and village has a flea market on King’s day where anyone can come and bring their stuff to sell, and as you see in the pictures one person’s junk is another’s treasure.

The kids had a blast and spent all their pocket money.

Tired but happy with all our purchases we came back home around 2:00 in the afternoon and had tea and coffee with the traditional Dutch “Tompoes” (pastry).

I didn't know the little town of Ede had so many people in it. It seems everybody showed up!

Lois and her Dad contemplating a purchase. "But Dad, I really want it!"

We had an enjoyable lunch at the Oscar Cafe in downtown Ede.

Lois was really pleased that she got two bottles of soda.

Sanne-Joy was proud of her remote powered robot, a big bag of "gold" coins and a pirate's hideout Playmobil toy.
Very cool stuff for an eight year old.

The Dutch have more bikes per capita than any other country
and they seem to bike everywhere. The arbor above the bikes is formed
from Linden trees, trained to grow in straight lines. The new leaves are
just coming out now and by summer it will be covered
with loads of blossoms and leaves.