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Trading Underwear for Rice Crispy Treats: Queens Day in Amsterdam (Thoughts from Places)

2011-05-09 · documentary visit · John, Tobias · 2:28 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life · mode: Documentary visit · tags: on location, recurring series, guest or collab

In a Thoughts from Places travelogue John follows Queen's Day in Amsterdam from the empty early-morning Vondelpark freemarket with Henry to the orange-clad crowds with Nerdfighter Tobias, and ends glad to live in a world that finds cause to celebrate.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Henry wakes early; Dirk Kuyt jersey; walk to the Vondelpark through empty streets; Emily Dickinson poem on a wall

  • ★★ John, Sarah and Henry spent Queen's Day (30 April 2011) in Amsterdam; Henry woke them at 5:42 a.m. and they took him to the Vondelpark in a Dirk Kuyt jersey. — 00:00:01 · Amsterdam, Henry Green, Sarah Urist Green
  • ★ On the walk John passed an Emily Dickinson poem, 'To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee'. — 00:00:20

00:00:31 — The freemarket in the Vondelpark; what Queen's Day is; Henry prefers the sandbox

  • ★ John jokes that the freemarket is so called because none of the items in it are free, not even the back issues of Donald Duck comics. (joke) — 00:00:31
  • ★★ John explains that Queen's Day celebrates Queen Beatrix's mother's birthday and involves a city-wide garage sale, the freemarket, with street performers and carnival games. — 00:00:40
  • ★ Henry ignored the freemarket and just wanted to play in the sandbox. — 00:00:56 · Henry Green

00:01:01 — Crowds downtown with Nerdfighter Tobias: orange, inflatable hats, Museumplein, learning to say Koninginnedag, photobombs

  • ★★ John met Nerdfighter Tobias, the only person in Amsterdam not wearing orange, and says the orange-clad crowds make him anxious. (playful) — 00:01:01 · Nerdfighteria, Amsterdam
  • ★ Tobias says he looked in his wardrobe and had nothing orange. — 00:01:10
  • ★★ At the Museumplein, where John says a hundred thousand drunk people were listening to music, Tobias tried to teach him to say Koninginnedag and they were photobombed. — 00:01:30

00:01:56 — Underwear traded for Rice Krispie treats; home through crowds; a world that finds cause to celebrate; party ends by law at 9 p.m.; sign-off

  • ★★ John and Tobias saw a man trading underwear for Rice Krispie treats in the afternoon. (playful) — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ John says he was happy to live in a world that finds cause to celebrate. — 00:02:06
  • ★ John jokes that he was happier still that by law the party ended at 9 p.m.: good government regulation at work. (joke) — 00:02:16

In the description and comments

  • ★★ John's description notes gatherings and signings around the Netherlands, with details at his Dutch publisher Lemniscaat. — video description

Humor (significant)

  • John explains that Henry woke him early on Queen's Day, as if Henry said... — 00:00:01

    “I don't always wake up at 5:42 in the morning, but when I do, I expect to be fed.”

  • John and Tobias witness a street trade on the way home. — 00:01:56

    “Which is the kind of thing that, like, does happen, but not at 2:20 in the afternoon.”

  • After a day of crowds and techno rattling the apartment, John is happy about one thing more. — 00:02:17

    “That's just good government regulation at work, Hank.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Amsterdam · Queen's Day · Tobias (nerdfighter, mentioned from 2011)

Also: People: Beatrix of the Netherlands · Dirk Kuyt · Elton John · Emily Dickinson · Henry Green · Juliana of the Netherlands · Sarah Urist Green

Works: To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee

Places: Museumplein · Vondelpark

Characters: Donald Duck

Products: Rice Krispies Treats

Only in the description or credits: Lemniscaat · Thoughts from Places

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