This is Queen’s Day in the Netherlands. I wanted to wear my orange blouse, but it was too cold. I’ve worn the same three layers for the last several days! Greta had a nice breakfast for us, and we were on our way about 9. Greta helped us get out, gave us some instructions for finding our route, and left in her car for a meeting. Greta has a very strong accent and really wanted us to say the words with the same heavy accent!
We had a lovely ride to Lisse and on to the Keukenhoff Gardens.
We began to see lovely fields of tulips -- they are unbelievable -- big fields, but not of corn or soy beans! In one field, a tractor with a machine was cutting the tops off the vibrantly blooming tulips.
Evidently these will be sold for bulbs, and they make better bulbs if the tops are cut off. It was sad to see all the beautiful blooms laying between the rows. I’m glad we got here as soon as we did, while most of the fields still had their blooms.
We found the Keukenhoff Gardens north of Lisse. We were able to park our bikes and leave our bags in a shed with security. It was starting to rain again, so we were really glad to keep our bags dry. It rained off and on throughout the time we were at the Gardens, but, except for being quite chilly, it was a wonderful visit.
After viewing many acres of displays and an orchid pavilion, we went out the exit, only to discover that it was the back exit rather than the one we had come in. They let us back in (after we paid 40 cents to use the bathroom -- well worth it.) We discovered that we had missed a huge section of some of the most beautiful displays. We got a map from the bike security people and rode a loop around the gardens and out into the tulip fields.
We found our way to Noordwijkerhout to our hosts there. A man helped us by showing us where to go on the posted city map. We wrote it down so that we wouldn’t forget his instructions. We found the place relatively easily, and met our hosts, Joke (pronounced Yoka) and Ed. By then, we were quite cold, and I didn’t feel like going out to a restaurant, so we skipped supper.
Our hosts helped us get our next night’s reservation and printed off maps for us for our route up the west coast of the Netherlands, and brought us coffee to our room. Ed loves using the computer and was so helpful with the maps and calling to Castricum for our lodging tomorrow.
I typed up two days’ notes, Verle put it on the Internet via Ed’s computer, We went to bed rather early.
2 comments:
I am so glad you are getting to experience the beautiful tulips. Hope you can stay healthy.
All is well here. We think of you often and are enjoying your journal.
V
Your tulip pictures are amazing! I'm really excited to see all of the pictures grandpa took of this - I had no idea they cut off the heads to produce a stronger bulb; how interesting. Really happy you got to see this! I know you were especially looking forward to it.
Jermark
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