• Dressed up for Queensday in Orange, inside my parents house
    Kingsday,  Netherlands

    Kingsday: My Favorite Dutch National Day

    Each year we celebrate Kingsday or ‘Koningsdag’ in  The Netherlands on April 27th. It’s a Dutch national day which I love and look forward to each year. Everybody is cheerful and there’s so much to do and see all day. History of Kingsday Since 2014 we celebrate Kingsday. Queen Beatrix abdicated in 2014 and her son became the King. King Willem-Alexander changed the date from April 30th to April 27th. His Birthday and he changed the name from Queensday to Kingsday. April 30th had been the date since 1949, which was the Birthday of Queen Juliana. Queen Beatrix didn’t change the date when she rose to the throne. Out of…

  • Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam with tulips in front. There's a pool of water surrounding the pots with tulips in it. There's a clear blue sky above with one small cloud in it. There are lots of people all around the tulips. The Rijksmuseum is at the back of the photo.
    City,  Netherlands,  shopping

    Best Cities for Shopping in The Netherlands

    Last Updated: February 26th 2025. Three to four times a year I go shopping with a friend, we pick a city somewhere in The Netherlands and arrive there by train. We started this in 2013. My son was saying to me “When are you not here?”, not because he had enough of me, but because he thought that on a day with just his dad he could have screen time all day long (luckily that didn’t come true). My friend and I have one city we go to each year, Maastricht, and then a number of cities that rotate. Next to these I have added some cities where I used…