Netherlands Day of Remembrance

If I understand it correctly, today is the national day of honoring the dead (of WWII I think). There will be vigils and services held everywhere. Tomorrow is Liberation Day and instead of solemn vigils there will be concerts and festivities as the Dutch people celebrate their freedom from German occupation during WWII. Its interesting to me that there is still an obsession with the war that ended 72 years ago. Certainly it was a significant event in the history of the Netherlands, but the country’s history goes back many centuries; I wonder if there are other holidays commemorating other significant historical events. Seventeen years ago, on our first trip, we were in Amsterdam enjoying the commotion and excitement of the week long celebration between Kings Day and Liberation Day.
We are still at Donna’s, finishing up the last tasks on the van: installing 12V interior lights, finding a safety triangle and filling a second propane tank. Our new departure day is Friday. We’ve been at Donna’s place for a week now and its time to get going. Because of the holiday, we’ve changed our plans a bit (you can do that on an open-ended trip). We are heading to Haarlem for the weekend. The tulip fields and Keukenhof Gardens are postponed to next week.