Dutch Tulips

Fields of tulips.


Inside the flower garden.


One of the more popular designs.

Mom and me.

In the sun, some of the flowers glowed with color.

The trees were also in bloom.

I have not been posting lately because I’ve been busy running around the Netherlands with my parents. Mom and Dad timed their visit for the spring so they could see the tulips. April also seems to have the best weather – not too warm and not too wet. Since my parents lived in France for a while, they have seen most of Europe. Even though they were in Europe more than 40 years ago, the historic sites really don’t change that much. So we focused our site seeing on the country-side, smaller towns, and lesser known museums. As usual, I will have to break up the trip into smaller portions, so keep checking for more posts.

The first full day of their visit, the weather was sunny and perfect for a trip to the tulip gardens. The Keukenhof is a world famous garden featuring tulips and other bulb-flowers. It’s only open for two months of the year and the tulips are only blooming for a couple of weeks. It can be very crowded (mostly with Japanese tourists) on the weekends, but it’s OK in the mornings and on weekdays. The garden is a 45 minute drive from our house. It’s closer to the ocean and tends to be a little bit cooler. For Mom and Dad from Arizona, it was quite COLD!

As we drove up to the park, we saw some of the farm fields where they grow the bulbs. The farm fields are like very colorful corn fields. It’s strange to see. The park itself is divided into smaller plots that are planted by different garden companies. It’s a way for the companies to really show off. Some of them get really creative with the layout. Others just rely on the flowers themselves. We took tons of pictures, but we were not able to photograph the smell.

I do have to make one complaint about the tulip garden. They charge a 13.50 euro admission charge and then they have the audacity to charge an additional 50 cents to use the bathroom! It's very Dutch to charge for the bathroom and I understand it in some places (like the train station, for example). But I was really annoyed to pay for the bathroom after we had paid admission to the park. The saying, "They get you coming and going," is especially true here!