King’s Day in Amsterdam started slowly

King’s Day starts quietly in Amsterdam on Wednesday. There is still a lot of police at the central station around 9:00 am. On the Haarlemmerdijk, the first people dressed in orange stroll through the free market.

Old clothes are sold, but also games, sunglasses and orange tompouces. Music is heard here and there. A boy of about ten years old practices his violin on a corner of the long street. Judging by the open suitcase at his feet, he hopes to earn some money on Wednesday. After the last note of his piece, he gets applause from the booth on the opposite sidewalk.

It is not really busy anywhere in the center of the capital on Wednesday morning. While the sidewalks on the Haarlemmerdijk are already filled with the merchandise of selling Amsterdammers, those in the Nieuwmarktbuurt are mainly strewn with the plastic cups from King’s Night.

A little further on the Prinsengracht there is still a lot of waste on the street. Nevertheless, the first catering entrepreneurs are preparing their beer kegs again. “We were already closed at 11 p.m. last night,” says an employee of café Twee Prinsen, while he is building an outdoor bar. “We’ve really set our sights on today.”