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Today's |
The Blog
Friday April 30, 2004
Queen's birthday celebrations today for me and we are talking about the Dutch Queen here and not Liz. First I have a reception thrown by the consul followed by the biggest Queen's day celebration outside the Netherlands... and probably the only one (if you don't include the orange lights at the Empire State Building this weekend). Should be fun. I am looking forward to it. BTW a limited number of tickets to the party, that is not open for the Dutch only but for everybody who is interested in the Dutch culture, will be sold at the door. Have to warn you though since I don't think there will be pot and hookers in a red light district....
I had a good time at the 'Royal Dutch Treat' although my legs and feet were sore after standing for 6 hours. I must be getting old... Nevertheless, it was great to see so much orange. I have always said that the Dutch are a small and invisible group in Toronto and today they became visible. No longer a small minority but a group of people that wanted to express that they were proud that they had Dutch roots.
Sure, mistakes were made and some things went wrong yesterday. I found it very typical that the volunteers had to pay for their ticket to get in. Squeezing every penny out of it. Very Dutch ;) But despite that I hope they continue and this will become an annual event. It's something that is necessary and that I feel strong about.
