Talking about parties, the special occasion did not interfere much with the usual way of celebrating Queen’s Day in Amsterdam: street markets were still taking place around the city (apart from a few central locations) and children were still selling old toys and lemonade in order to make a few bucks. Big, loud parties popped out at every street corner and everyone was dressed in funny clothes and coloured wigs, hats or anything else that they found appropriate to put on for the occasion — all orange of course; even a few drunken people were wandering around the city while the mounted police forces tried to maintain order. But most people were just having their share of fun in the sun, marking the end of an era and already making plans for next year, when the first King’s Day (Koningsdag) will be celebrated — not on the 30th, but on the 27th of April (which is the birthday of new king Willem).

We’re all curious how the Koningsdag will feel like, but until then, I’ll let you enjoy some photos that captured this unique day.

Below is a list with some websites that I found in my search — they don’t refer to all possible hobbies, of course, but I hope some of you will find them helpful. I will go into more details about some of the shops in future articles, but for now there’s just a long list with short descriptions

• Colormemine on Roelof Hartstraat 22 — the ideal place for someone in search of supplies for ceramic painting or making of mosaic; they also organise creative workshops
• The Luchtvaart Hobby Shop or “The Aviation Store”, on Molenweg 249 — aviation books, aircraft scale modelling, aircraft model collections, flight simulation, pilot supplies and aircraft videos
• Knopenwinkel (The Button Shop) — an impressive collection of buttons in all shapes and sizes
• The Mad Bakers on Haarlemmerdijk 97 — everything you need for baking
• Koud kunstje de knutsewinkel, close to Westerkerk — decopatch paper, glitter, paint, pencils, mosaic and kits for DIY decorative objects or gifts
• Weldraad — a unique collection of wool and yarns, fabrics and buttons, all “Fair-trade” and environmentally friendly
• Pingouin — everything for knitting
• Hand Made Heaven on Kastanjeplein 2, close to Oosterpark — drawing, embroidery, knitting materials, clay, paint
• Jan de Grote Kleinvakman — a small hidden shop at the Albert Cuyp market, a heaven for seekers of tailoring materials, but not only
• Peter van Ginkel on Bilderdijkstraat 99 — great variety of painting and drawing supplies
• Hoopman on Marnixstraat 47 — paint, canvas, paintbrushes
• Vlieger — paper & art supplies
• De Posthumus Winkel — stamps, beautiful paper, envelopes, inks of all colors and sealingwax
• Beadies on Huidenstraat 6 — everything for jewelry making
• Gone with the wind on Vijzelstraat 22 — especially for kids
• het Paard — chess and other games
• A Space Oddity — action figure toy shop
• K&K — all you need for self made cosmetics and natural remedies (online shop)
• Soap Queen — online shop for hand made soap products
• Some other online-only shops: DBD Hobby; made by me!; de Bricoleur; Hobby en Kraal

In the end, let’s not forget that even at “regular” shops like Hema, Blokker or IKEA there is a lot of raw material to be found for hand-made crafts.

That’s my list — I haven’t tried all of them myself, so I can’t vouch for them, but all the ones I did visit were really nice. Some of the websites are in Dutch only, but Google Translate is an expat’s best friend; also, once you have the address you can easily make a trip to the shop and ask for advice directly. I hope you’ll find some interesting nuggets among these, and if there are any that I missed, please feel free to suggest them in a comment.

First created in 1864 as the Colonial Museum in Haarlem and later moved to Amsterdam, the Tropenmusem is now owned by Royal Tropical Institute, a foundation that studies tropical cultures worldwide. Located in the Amsterdam Oost (East Amsterdam) district, right next to the beautiful Oosterpark, the museum is hosted in a beautiful historic building. It is a good place to visit together with your children of all ages — they will be fascinated by all the exotic objects: the masks, the costumes and the musical instruments. There are always some activities designed specifically for children and there is even a special part of the museum dedicated to them — Tropenmuseum Junior, which is running programmes and exhibitions for children between 6 – 13 years old, teaching them about the world and its various cultures by involving them in all sorts of entertaining projects.

The inside of the museum is quite an airy, large space, the collections are neatly organised and the recommended way of visiting is starting at the second floor and going down, region by region, until the ground floor. After buying tickets and leaving any “big luggage” at the wardrobe (they insist you have to do this, so be prepared not to get insulted if the security guard will consider your beloved purse as being part of the “large bags” category), get the lift and start your journey through the world. I can guarantee you will be transported for a few hours in a different space and time and you’ll forget about any day-to-day trouble. Perfect for a relaxing Sunday afternoon and not only

For useful information in planning your visit, check out the dedicated page on the museum website.

Having seen the building many times from the outside, and having read enough articles about the exterior of this new wing, I became very curious to see what it looked like on the inside and what the museum had to offer its visitors. The entrance is located between the bathtub’s “legs” and leads one to the main hallway, which is a wide, airy space; this is where the museum shop and restaurant are located. I must confess that while standing in the queue to get my ticket, I felt as if I was at the airport, waiting for check-in; quite a strange feeling for a museum, but I enjoyed the well lit, minimally-designed space which gave the sensation of something very modern.

And modern is what it should feel like, since it’s a museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art and design. The collection is one of the richest modern art collections in the world, counting almost 90,000 objects (Wikipedia) which consist of paintings, drawings, sculptures, photography, films, graphic and industrial design, etc. Various famous names are shown here, from Vincent van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, Chagall, Kandinsky to Mike Kelley, Marlene Dumas and Dutch modern photography. A very interesting part to see is also an exhibit on the history of Dutch design (don’t be shy to look inside all the drawers and discover the small beautiful objects inside). There are also permanent and temporary exhibitions and a big emphasis is put nowadays on holding artistic events: live performances, film screenings, concerts, book launches. It is definitely worth at least one visit; I for one will come back for sure, to see, from time to time, what’s new in the area of modern art.

Regarding the practical aspects of the visit: queues are not very long and the large spaces inside will not make you feel crowded and claustrophobic like in other Amsterdamian museums; there are some nicely shaped windows which offer an interesting view over the Museumplein and, at the end of your visit, you can rest for a while at the local restaurant. For official opening hours and the admission price, as well as many other useful pieces of information, please visit the museum website.