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Koninginnedag or Queen's Day is an exaggerated made up festivity to celebrate the Queen’s three-months’-late birthday, which actually just an excuse to have party and get drunk. It’s very Dutch and I enjoyed it

I was looking for something genuine(?), so I stayed in Wageningen. People had already packed at centrum very early in the morning for the traditional vrijmarkt (flea market). It’s when people grab a few shabby blankets and spread them on the street side, bring the most peculiar things from their attics or garages in a few boxes and hoping that other people will find something attractive in the lump. I went there at 10.30, had eyes on a few things but not exactly buying anything. But some fellow Indonesian students had already a bag full of I-don’t-know-what, and they were even starting the second round of shopping There were also children’s playing square and a couple of games including balap karung (I don’t know the English name—let alone Dutch—for this game). Too bad I missed them, just had the chance to see Mayor van Rumund posed with the proud winners before the town hall.

After having lunch and didn’t know what else to do, we grabbed our bikes and think of nothing. Then we just found out that bus ride was free for the day, so we decided to jump on a bus and went to Arnhem.

Arnhem was—of course—much more crowded than Wageningen. There were music concerts every few blocks away. We—had nothing particular in minds—decided to find the Rheine River and get crocodilized there. But it was too windy by the riverside. So we went to Arnhem’s vrijmarkt, took a look around and watched the unsold stuffs were tucked into the junk truck. I found a pair of boots, costs only 2 euros, which is perfect for a 125 euros conference I will attend watch this month . And then we grabbed coffee in an ice cream stall (well, I had coffee, Ahmad and Lenny had chocolate, Rian had spa and Reza had dropjes—this is unimportant details, innit?) and watched the crowd from the second floor of the stall.

Such a lazy and pleasant day