Amsterdam, Netherlands

I needed to sleep before attempting to write this blog – I wish I could articulate what it was like to visit a disneyland floral fantasy! Keukenhof has been voted best spring garden in the world several times and well deserved.

It was our first ‘sunny’ day so we chose this to head out of town to the gardens and detouring through Haarlem – a town 15 mins by train nearby. Rick recommends this town verses Amsterdam for a dutch experience. It is nice and well worth the visit, but we prefer the city as there is more to see and do in close proximity. When we hopped off the train in Haarlem it seemed a northerly wind had come in with the fine weather. OMG freezing and I mean freezing. It would come in gusts and blow you over a bit – see uploaded video. LOL glad I packed my merino hat!

We had lunch in a charming and grand old style restaurant on the edge of the square, choosing typical dutch chicken soup and croquettes before sampling some some cheeses at a nearby shop. Dutch cheese does not have such an exotic reputation as say the French but oh my – we tried some specialty Gouda including an orange coloured 24 month aged. Ecstasy!

The countryside just outside of the city is amazing. Pockets of land are surrounded by networks of canals. Quaint little villages and houses punctuate flat fields, woodlands, and coloured strips of flower fields. The odd windmill stands tall on the flat horizon. Holland is so pretty and orderly. It’s so underrated for its cleverness in style and design. We really love it.

The tulip season is a bit late due to the horrible winter but we were lucky to see the first blooms outside, and the inside displays were a kaleidoscope that kept delighting the senses for hours. We both were oohing and ahhing at the landscaping – clever blends and clashes of colour. Sculpture and garden design of ultra modern to traditional and everything in between are inspirational. The pavilion houses the main display, including heady scented spring flowers such as daffodils lilac, lily’s, tulips (of course) and richly coloured hyacinths.

Now to the tulips – all I can say is they were magic. The colours and shapes were amazing – especially the salmon, corals and pink shades. There were traditional shapes, frilled parrot, waterlily shapes and more! Then a range of yellows and reds and even whites that glowed! The size of them also blew us away, many were larger than side plates and looked like anemones or ranunculus on steroids.

The trip to Keukenhof was my main reason for coming to Holland and the experience surpassed all expectations by a mile. Both Vernon and I would love to come back, and its so exciting thinking on how we will feel seeing other amazing things as our adventure continues. I will let some photos do the talking but know that they really are pale compared to the experience.

FOOTNOTE: Back home and editing photo’s and blog before printing it in a book and OMG there were ghosts there! Vernon took some photos of me being silly in clogs and there are some unexplained apparitions in three shots. I have loaded one, but if anyone wants the big full file or has had similar experience there I would love to hear from you. Please message me via email.