From Thursday May 12th, until Monday May 16th 2016 you can visit the Food festival ‘Rollende keukens‘. The Westerpark will transform itself into one big outdoor restaurant. There will be dozens of food trucks with a big variety of food: from vegan to burgers, from waffles to deep fried insects. You don’t have to pay an entrance fee and if you want you can just bring your own drinks. The kitchens will be open from 1pm – 11pm.
Every year on May 4th, we commemorate the victims of war. In Amsterdam there is a big commemoration at Dam Square where prominent people (for example our King and Queen) lay wreaths at the National Monument. At 8pm everybody in the whole country is silent for two minutes.
May 5th is the day that the German army capitulated (in 1945) and is our National Liberation Day. There are many festivities in the whole country (14 Liberation Festivals). In Amsterdam Liberation Day is closed with a free open-air concert on the Amstel River. Various artists perform and there is a different orchestra every year. Members of our royal family attain the concert and, like many citizens do, they traditionally arrive by boat. You can watch the whole concert from the quay or standing on a bridge. The weather looks very promising this year so bring your bottle of wine and enjoy the music, the atmosphere and the beautiful view on the illuminated Amstel River. The concert starts at 9pm. More details: http://www.4en5mei.nl/herdenken-en-vieren/vieren/5-mei-concert/programma
Every year, on April 27th, we celebrate King’s Day (the birthday of our King Willem-Alexander). It was formerly known as Queen’s Day. About 1 million people are celebrating this day in Amsterdam. You will find a lot of music, food and street markets all over our city. Actually, the fun already starts the night before on King’s Night. Just go downtown Amsterdam (Jordaan or Nieuwmarkt) and you will see that there is already a lot of partying and drinking beer going on.
Some pieces of advice:
– don’t try to meet up with several friends throughout the day on different locations. You don’t have a clue how crowded it gets in the city! Just enjoy your beer and enjoy the crowd.
– don’t get your hopes too high on finding an absolute gem on the street markets. Most of the stuff that is sold is crap like broken toys and second-hand clothes. And we Dutchies don’t even get embarrassed asking money for it…
– people tend to dress up in orange clothes (it is our national colour). So don’t forget your orange details.
– there is no public transport in the city center during the day, so be prepared for a long walk.
More information: http://www.iamsterdam.com/en/visiting/whats-on/kings-day/all-about-kings-day-in-amsterdam
Each year the exhibition of the World Press Photo can be visited at de Nieuwe Kerk on the Damsquare (this year from April 16th to July 10th). It is an annual photo contest that rewards photographers for the best journalistic picture of the past year and as you can imagine, the pictures are very impressive and emotional. More information: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/exhibitions/2016-exhibition/amsterdam
You don’t have to travel all the way to Japan to see cherry blossom. Right now, you can go to the Amsterdams Forest to see cherry blossom blooming. In the year 2000 the Japanese Women’s Club donated 400 cherry trees to the city of Amstelveen (the Japanese are the biggest foreign community in Amstelveen). For the Japanese, Sakura is a symbol of spring. Go visit, it is really worth it! Here you can find the exact location.
If you are visiting Amsterdam in April, you will be lucky to see many tulips in the city. The aim of the Amsterdam tulip festival is to eventually plant one tulip for every citizen, this year 500.000 tulips were planted. This is the second year this festival is organised. You can follow a route by bike or by foot throughout the city. More information: http://www.tulpfestival.com
On April 9th 2016 a new museum will open its doors: the Moco Museum (Modern Contemporary Museum). The first two expositions are two legends: Banksy and Warhol. The museum is located on the Museum Square, between the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum in a beautiful villa, built in 1903. It will be open every day and on Fridays even until 9pm. The menu at Moco Cafe looks very promising as well. Address: Honthorststraat 20.
In the weekend of March 18th to March 20th, the Amsterdam Coffee Festival is organised at Westergasfabriek. You can go for a coffee and food pairing (organised by the Scandinavian Embassy), or zip a cocktail at the espresso martini bar. There are also interactive workshops, live music and art exhibitions. Let’s hope we will have a sunny weekend in Amsterdam. Enjoy! http://www.amsterdamcoffeefestival.com/Home
Every year the Nieuwe Kerk displays a religious Masterpiece from a museum or private collection. This year’s choice is ‘Calvary‘, painted by Marc Chagall in 1912. It was the first time Chagall painted a Jewish Christ on the cross. The painting is on special loan from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. You can see it from February 20th to April 10th at Nieuwe Kerk. More information: https://www.nieuwekerk.nl/en/exhibitions/masterpiece-2016-is-marc-chagalls-calvary/
If you are in Amsterdam during the weekend of March 12th and 13th, you should discover Amsterdam’s westside. During 24H West, some unusual events take place. You can listen to opera while drinking beer, do a literary wine tasting or watch street art during a night tour. Check out all the details: http://www.iamsterdam.com/en/visiting/whats-on/24h-amsterdam/24h-west?pg=0
