Keukenhof Gardens
I believe some sort of astronomically high percentage of the world's flowers come from The Netherlands, perhaps even something like 90%. The climate, soil and flat ground are perfect for tulips, daffodils, amaryllis, hyacinths, and so much more!
As a side note... Holland is just the name of two counties in the country of The Netherlands, but even many locals refer to the country as Holland. They speak Dutch here and use the Euro as their currency. It is a very liberal country where things are allowed which are still very much against the law in most other countries. Most of the land was actually reclaimed from the water after building dams. Vast expanses of land are always visible as the land seems endlessly flat. The Dutch are incredible engineers, using windmills for hundreds of years to pump water out of the fields down into the canals that lead to larger water ways. Sort of like the Venicians, I'm thoroughly impressed with their creativity, perseverance and ingenuity when building a civilization. Similar to Venice, they even have to build their buildings on posts (these are now concrete) to support the weight and keep it from sinking into the sandy soil.
Holland, unfortunately, has had a very similar winter to England, in fact the calendar says spring but the weather really doesn't show that. So, the flowers are behind. The huge expanses of bulb fields have strips of yellow daffodils, but the rest is the color of sand and straw. I can only imagine how glorious this place will probably be in about three weeks time on a clear day.
We visited the Keukenhof Gardens today which are world famous gardens only open for a few months in the spring. These gardens are used as a showcase for the growers to display the incredible diversity of the flowers grown in the area. Each year the bulbs are pulled up and the garden is redesigned for the next spring. I was of course disappointed not to see the gardens in all their glory, but of course none of us can control the weather. The gardens did make the most of it though by bringing in giant crates of blooming tulips from greenhouses and putting them along the pathway. They also had covered pavilions that grew independently of the weather that were FILLED with varieties of orchids and daffodils I couldn't even dream up along with tulips that would challenge a box of Crayola crayons. They were stunning! I don't know how I could have chosen just one, or for that matter, a handful of different ones as my favorites.
I snapped hundreds of photos trying to capture the color and uniqueness of the flowers I was enjoying. I'm sure my camera and I both fell short of capturing it all.
One would think beautiful gardens would be enough to keep me entertained for several hours, but they also had some animals that captured my attention. It was almost like a little petting zoo with rare breeds of rabbits, ducks, horses, goats, pigs, chickens and of course sheep. Being in an environment where people are around everyday means you can't be all too shy. So just my simply kneeling down, the curiosity of a lamb couldn't be stopped. She came over and sniffed my coat and bag before proceeding to chew on my boot strap. Such a sweet face and personality!
Of course a clear blue sky with all the flowers in bloom would have been nice, but I was very thrilled with what I did get to see today. This evening I'm off for a night canal cruise complete with wine and Dutch cheese!
As a side note... Holland is just the name of two counties in the country of The Netherlands, but even many locals refer to the country as Holland. They speak Dutch here and use the Euro as their currency. It is a very liberal country where things are allowed which are still very much against the law in most other countries. Most of the land was actually reclaimed from the water after building dams. Vast expanses of land are always visible as the land seems endlessly flat. The Dutch are incredible engineers, using windmills for hundreds of years to pump water out of the fields down into the canals that lead to larger water ways. Sort of like the Venicians, I'm thoroughly impressed with their creativity, perseverance and ingenuity when building a civilization. Similar to Venice, they even have to build their buildings on posts (these are now concrete) to support the weight and keep it from sinking into the sandy soil.
Holland, unfortunately, has had a very similar winter to England, in fact the calendar says spring but the weather really doesn't show that. So, the flowers are behind. The huge expanses of bulb fields have strips of yellow daffodils, but the rest is the color of sand and straw. I can only imagine how glorious this place will probably be in about three weeks time on a clear day.
We visited the Keukenhof Gardens today which are world famous gardens only open for a few months in the spring. These gardens are used as a showcase for the growers to display the incredible diversity of the flowers grown in the area. Each year the bulbs are pulled up and the garden is redesigned for the next spring. I was of course disappointed not to see the gardens in all their glory, but of course none of us can control the weather. The gardens did make the most of it though by bringing in giant crates of blooming tulips from greenhouses and putting them along the pathway. They also had covered pavilions that grew independently of the weather that were FILLED with varieties of orchids and daffodils I couldn't even dream up along with tulips that would challenge a box of Crayola crayons. They were stunning! I don't know how I could have chosen just one, or for that matter, a handful of different ones as my favorites.
I snapped hundreds of photos trying to capture the color and uniqueness of the flowers I was enjoying. I'm sure my camera and I both fell short of capturing it all.
One would think beautiful gardens would be enough to keep me entertained for several hours, but they also had some animals that captured my attention. It was almost like a little petting zoo with rare breeds of rabbits, ducks, horses, goats, pigs, chickens and of course sheep. Being in an environment where people are around everyday means you can't be all too shy. So just my simply kneeling down, the curiosity of a lamb couldn't be stopped. She came over and sniffed my coat and bag before proceeding to chew on my boot strap. Such a sweet face and personality!
Of course a clear blue sky with all the flowers in bloom would have been nice, but I was very thrilled with what I did get to see today. This evening I'm off for a night canal cruise complete with wine and Dutch cheese!
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