04-21 Keukenhof - Amazing Gardens

Up early for our walk over to Keukenhof. We arrived shortly after they opened at 8:15. Wow, there is so much to see here. The flower combinations their gardeners put together are fabulous. I've taken so many pictures. Just when I decide to put the camera away and just enjoy all the colors we walk around a tree or greenery so awesome it makes me take the camera back out again!

We went up into the windmill to get some shots of the park and the tulip fields across the canal. Then we bought tickets to the 10 am boat trip through the tulip fields.

While waiting we have a Dutch waffle. It's thin with honey spread on it then topped with another. It smelled delicious when we walked into the area, but it didn't have enough flavor. Maybe we should try this some other place. It wasn't warm either. I kind of expected it to be warm.

After walking through the small gift shop it was time for our boat ride. We picked up a headset as we boarded the low canal boat. Kind of like the canal boat ride at Disneyland, but larger. The driver unhooked us from the dock but then couldn't start the motor. They swapped out motor and we were off.

It was a 45 min boat ride with taped narration in several languages, depending which plug you plugged into under your seat. It was a cold ride in this open air boat, but a unique thing to be able to do here. To see and hear about tulips coming to Holland and what they do to care for them. Didn't know you needed to deadhead tulips to make the bulb grow bigger and stronger.

After the boat ride we decided lunch was a good idea, since it was supposed to be really crowded here today. Today's lunch was lasagna, which we split. Lots of people here bring in their own food and sit outside on benches eating salads, sandwiches, and lots of other things that I couldn't identify. 

The orchard house was next door and was a great place to get warm after the chilly boat ride. It's been overcast all day with a slight wind that picks up every once in a while, which it did in the boat ride.

With our body temps approaching normal, we were ready to go back out. I still can't believe there are so many awesome colorful flowers. The colors and shapes of the gardens just keep amazing me. They had developed a lot of tulips with two colors in them that look so beautiful together. The layout design of the overall park makes for a very enjoyable time, just wandering the gardens taking in the sights and the smells.

They had lots of hyacinths all over and they were very fragrant. In another building there were more displays and huge tulips. They even had some hydrangeas. I took lots of pictures and by the end of the day my feet were really tired.

We walked back to town and stopped at our grocery store for more water and a coke. Walking through town we found a spot for dinner. Pat had spaghetti and I had a ham pizza, which wasn't as good as the first place in town. 

No sun, no rain today. Kind of like a typical spring day in Seattle.