Last night was Queen’s Night, and I ventured out prepared for anything. I didn’t have any concrete plans because I, as always, really wanted to walk around and see as much as I could. So I wandered around for several hours, and saw a lot of craziness and a lot of not-very-good free open-air concerts. One of the things I found surprising about Queen’s Night was the number of places that were open. All the souvenir stores, a bunch of restaurants and bars, and some little grocery shops were still open. I grabbed dinner at Wok to Walk, which makes delicious stir-fry. The greatest thing about Wok To Walk is captured in their name—you can walk around with your dinner in one of their iconic orange boxes. I saw a lot of people around Leidseplein trying to walk, dance and eat all at the same time.
I made it a personal goal to find as many of those free open-air concerts as possible because the music and atmosphere different at each one. The first I found by accident heading down a side street (Reguliersdwarsstraat, if anyone is interested – there is a really good Mexican restaurant called Rosie’s Cantina there) to get away from a crowd, and found a great party in the street. Everyone was dancing to the pop/techno music, including a bunch of people in the apartments high above the street. After that, I headed to Leidseplein, and found a terrible pop singer there, but as always, Leidseplein was hopping and there’s always lots of people-watching to do. There was a street performer doing tricks with a ball, and a motorcycle gang in matching outfits. Despite the slight chill in the air, I got ice cream and ate it while walking around because any time there is a partying crowd of people walking fearlessly in the streets, I feel the need to eat ice cream. The trams were running, but only occasionally, so the crowds took over the streets. Being able to walk down the middle of the streets along with half of Amsterdam was great fun. I found another concert playing Latin music with a smaller, more relaxed crowd near the giant chess set (buried under the stage at the time), and a fourth on my way home on Haarlemmerstraat.
Even when there wasn’t music blaring from a stage or the entrance to a bar, there was always the sound of crushed beer cans and broken bottles underfoot. I was surprised by how much trash there was on the streets, although given Amsterdam’s lack of public trash cans, that shouldn’t have surprised me. I rather liked it though—I wouldn’t want broken glass around every day, but it definitely adds to the chaotic, fun, free atmosphere that is Queen’s Night.