So it’s April in Amsterdam? What to do?
I’ll be damned if I know.
All I want to do is sit in Vondelpark in the sunshine and wait for the return of the Queen’s Day madness.
Anywho, if you’re craving some culture, then here are a couple things to sink your teeth into this April in Amsterdam:
Museum Weekend
Museum Weekend is back with 32 museums in Amsterdam alone opening (most of the time for FREE, sometimes with a big discount on the entry) to the public with special exhibitions, installments, and activities. This all goes down on the first weekend of April (2 & 3).
Love in Wartime
For the whole month of April until some time in May, the Dutch Resistance Museum (Verzetsmuseum) has what sounds like a fascinating exhibition called Love in Wartime about the unexpected and often surprising connections that were made in the times of strife during the second World War.
Imagine Film Festival
Once again, for its 27th year, the Imagine Film Festival will be showing all that is bizarre, scary, fantastic, sci-fi, and just downright strange in the film world at Filmtheater Kriterion. The highlight of the festival (in my horror-loving opinion) is the Night Of Terror held at Pathe Tuchinski (the one night that the festival leaves the Kriterion). This night will show 4 back-to-back horror films starting at midnight in the fantastic main hall of Tuchinski. So jump in your PJ’s and maybe pack a pillow- it’s going to be a loooong night!
Koninginnedag (aka: Queen’s Day)
Oh yes, it’s that time of year again: the cap on the month of April that every Dutchman and woman waits for with glee. You can’t plan for it, and you certainly can’t avoid it. So just grab your orange sunglasses/t-shirt/feather boa and let the crowd sweep you away in the drunken madness: it’s Queen’s Day, people!
For those less willing to flow freely with the tide of orange and want to do something preposterous like PLAN their day, check the Amsterdam Koninginnedag website for concert agendas in the city’s main squares.
Last year I asked our V crew to send me photos of themselves on Queen’s Day so that I could blog about it. Almost all of them refused, making me wonder what it was that they really got up to…..I bet I can guess.
Have fun this April!
Hotel V 