Thursday, May 14, 2015

Tulips at the Keukenhof

I was keen on checking out the Keukenhof, which is the second largest garden in all of Europe and is open only two months out of the year. It's about an hour drive away from Amsterdam, and we signed up for a bus tour that would take us there and bring us back with ample time to explore the gardens. 

The gardens were absolutely breathtaking.


It was still a bit too early for the outdoor plants to be in full bloom so it was a bit meh when we first entered the grounds. However, once we got into the greenhouses, the riot of colours and gorgeous smells were just stunning.

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It was a lovely day of wandering from pavilion to pavilion, and the weather was absolutely perfect, a bit chilly but sunny.


The focus was on tulips, of course, but there were boatloads of other kinds of flowers and plants to examine and sniff. I discovered I love hyacinths! J treated me to a little boutonniere that I pinned to my coat, but I got mugged for it by a goat in the petting zoo.


Look at him, just munching away on my posy. 


We treated ourselves to some waffles and strolled around watching people crouching among the flowers to take a picture.


It's funny what beautiful flowers can bring out in people - grown ass men were revelling among the blooms and posing for selfies. Hilarious. 

We had just enough of the gardens when it was time to hop back on the bus and head back to Amsterdam. Once we reached the city, we grabbed a cab to head over to dinner at Blauw restaurant. Everyone had advised me not to eat Dutch food, but instead to sample the Indonesian cuisine, which was supposed to be phenomenal. I dutifully obeyed, and we sat down to a veritable smorgasbord of absolutely delicious Indonesian fare. I didn't always know what exactly I was eating, but it was all super delicious! 


We were both pretty bushed by the end of the day, but I wanted to make one more attempt on the Anne Frank House. No such luck, the queue was longer than ever. J promised we could come back and do it again, which is great since now we know where to eat! A friend of mine is running the Amsterdam marathon in October, so maybe I should go ahead and make the Anne Frank House reservations and restaurant bookings now...

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