In the Netherlands, there are a lot of parties going on at the moment in many places because it is our king’s birthday, and therefore a National holiday. The Netherlands turns orange today and all sorts of events are being organized. It’s a shame I can’t be there. But luckily we were also able to celebrate King’s Day a little bit here in Slovenia. The Dutch embassy in Ljubljana organizes a King’s Day reception every year. Dutch people living in Slovenia, who are registered with the embassy, receive an official invitation. This year for the first time by email, of course under the guise of the environment.

So last Thursday, Bine and I drove to Ljubljana, together with my parents. The reception was held for the first time in the recently completely renovated Rog Center. The building dates from 1879 and was then built as a leather factory. Later it was a bicycle factory.

The reception took place in a beautiful and modern elongated room that was beautifully decorated for the occasion with various flower arrangements. There was also a stand where you could arrange flowers with, among other things, orange tulips and orchids.

Because I worked at the embassy for a while in 2009, it is always extra nice for me to see and talk to my former colleagues again. And of course, other Dutch people we know and who we meet there and with whom we can catch up.

There was of course a Heineken stand present. As most of you will know, Heineken has been the owner of the Slovenian beer brewery of Union and Laško for a number of years, so they could not be missed at this event.

And as always, there were delicious snacks like brownies and little cheesecakes. Supermarket chain Spar provided all kinds of vegan and vegetarian snacks this year. There was no meat to be seen at the reception anyway. The embassy is committed to helping build a better world, and this policy is part of that.

Fortunately, there was some tasty Dutch cheese again ;). And I was clearly not the only one who enjoyed that, because halfway through the reception the shelf was pretty empty, haha.

This year, we didn’t have to sing the Dutch national anthem ourselves. A choir did that for us ;). A Slovenian choir that is, so it was great that they were able to do this in the Dutch language. After the Dutch national anthem, the Slovenian national anthem also followed.

Of course, the ambassador also gave a nice speech that he started with a few words in Slovenian. Well done! He mainly spoke about the good ties between the Netherlands and Slovenia and about the importance of working towards a better environment. That is also why this year’s guests were asked to come to the reception by bike as much as possible. Unfortunately, this was not possible for us, but many did respond to this request. The ambassador himself also came by bike, together with his wife :).

Finally, as a farewell, we received a beautiful orange orchid to take home. Thank you very much for that! I’m very happy with it. We are looking forward to next year’s reception ;).