King’s Day in Amsterdam: “It’s a golden place, the whole world goes through it”

The King’s Throne can be found in the north on Thursday. It started out as white, but was splashed with silver, purple, and green graffiti. Splashing costs 1 euro and 1 ticket to win a chair at the end of the second day. Ravi and Sylvester (both 9) add a touch of yellow.

Yvette Gooch, 52, took the throne with her. She lives in Cromini, but the King’s Last Day was “so dull” there that she has now returned to her familiar place in the north. “It’s very relaxed here, not commercial. Here you can go to the toilet for 50 cents. I really think it’s a gem.”

Against a different graffiti background, below the Kraanhotel, stand Martijn van der Werf (50) and his family with a ‘Willy Willy’ tote bag (10 cents). They put away “Throw a Willie Willie Willie,” it was so popular, so the stuff broke. The games are more profitable than the six packs of beer he sells.

Celebrate King’s Night at the Newmarket, and immediately head out to the Duty Free. Fortunately, he had help from Isis and others (15). “It’s great to be here, but I just got back from getting around myself.”

“We’ve been here for about ten years,” says Van der Werf. As long as King Willem-Alexander is on the throne now, but that doesn’t affect him much. “I celebrate King’s Day mainly for the party.”

At Han Wegman (36) and the rest of the Karnieland Artists’ Collection in Enschede, you can experience local attractions made on the fairgrounds. Wegman himself made a roller coaster, and there is also a carousel.

Today he stands at Kop van Jut and encourages adults and children to hit as hard as possible with the hammer. Successful adults win a beer, children an apple. A young man next to him hits him so hard that the folding chair with the rainbow umbrella falls off. “The atmosphere here is so fun. We’ve been on the NDSM site for five years now.”