King’s day! This is what it feels like.

This was my second King’s day in Holland. I had a great time last year, so much so that I decided to head to Amsterdam in the morning and head back to Leiden in the evening, just like the previous year.

I was too late to book the tickets for the King’s day open air festival, but still ended up having a great time. This is possible since the whole of Amsterdam was in a party mood for this very special day. Getting to Amsterdam itself wasn’t the easiest of tasks since public transport was an absolute mess this day with everyone seeming to want to be on a train to Amsterdam. After finally managing to catch a train I had to leave it since it was too crowded, with absolutely no standing space.

After managing to reach Amsterdam somehow, I just wandered around the city with my friends in typical Dutch apparel. My welcome to Amsterdam was rather strange and something which I was not exactly expecting. Right outside the station were the Hare Krishna activists who were turning up a party atmosphere, with a  lot of people joining them in the huge conga line.

There are so many DJ’s playing in Amsterdam on this day it is almost impossible to not have a good time. I spent a couple of hours listening to one local DJ who was playing some of the biggest hits from the previous year. Along with me there were at least a thousand other people in that single location.  Again a great chance to make friends with people on a large scale all the while listening to some top music! All the canals in the city resembled an orange sea with some of them so crowded that boats simply could not pass through.

The city is also a dream come true for a foodie as the streets are filled with food stalls serving up some absolutely delicious food. I tried some of the best food from Vietnam, South Korea, Italy and India.

After all the fun was over in Amsterdam I took a late train back to Leiden, and here was Armin Van Buuren, the best DJ in the world playing in his hometown. To make matters even better, his concert was for free. He was playing some of his best numbers in Leiden and ended with his single hit ‘This is what it feels like’.

Truly, this is what it feels like when a day is well spent. All hail King’s day!

Leid