After whirlwind Paris, now I’m in Maastricht. Here are some photos, most of them taken from the balcony of my apartment. Oh yes, I am living in the nicest apartment I’ve ever lived in. I have a view of the main square of Maastricht outside my window. This is a boon in the daytime, but during the nights—around 3am—I am gently awoke by the rhythm of house techno music coming from the clubs under my window. Some 24-year-olds might be thrilled by this, but I am preternaturally old. I just want sleep.

On April 30, the Netherland’s celebrated Queen’s Day. The Dutch dressed up to celebrate their history. They do not normally dress like Revolutionary War reenactors.

One of the oddest things about Queen’s Day aside from the Dutch celebrating their military prowess is that everywhere there are people selling their old junk. Selling your old garbage in city parks appears to be an odd way to celebrate your queen’s birthday. But they do it. Few Dutch families have garages (no garage sales) or yards (no yard sales), so I thought they were just using the weather and the festival goers to hold a town-wide sale. But the selling is more organized than that, according to wikipedia:

The vrijmarkt is a nationwide car boot sale or flea market. Koninginnedag is the one day of the year that the Dutch government permits sales on the street without a permit and the payment of value added tax. ING Bank found in 2011 that one in five Dutch residents planned to sell at the vrijmarkt and estimated they would earn €100 per person for a total turnover of €290 million. Over half of the Dutch people buy at the vrijmarkt, with the 2010 estimated expenditure at €28.