Keukenhof

This past weekend I was feeling some better (thank goodness) and we decided to go ahead with our "small trip" idea. The destination was Keukenhof. Keukenhof is a large garden in Holland - here is there website. I believe the garden is open year round, but from March to May is the prime time of when the tulips are blooming. I don't know much about gardens or plants, and really I don't care. I tend to have a black thumb. But. I do love tulips. Tulips are by far and away my favorite flower. I wanted to go to Keukenhof last year but it never panned out. We decided on a bit of a whim to go there. Of course we picked high season, the most expensive time of the year for a hotel. I spent over an hour searching for a hotel... and even after that I feel like I paid waaaaayyyy too much. Oh well.

We drove over on Friday afternoon. When we checked into our hotel, we were advised by the front desk to try and get to Keukenhof early. It was my plan to get there when it first opened, but this confirmed my plan of an early start. The gardens open at 8, and we were there right when it opened. For the first two hours we were there it was heaven. The gardens are huge, and laid out along many different winding walking paths. We walked and walked and walked... and still saw new flowers around each bend. Beautiful doesn't seem to cover it. So many colors, shapes and sizes. I can't describe it, so here are some photos. Josh gets the credit for the photography on this trip. Don't let the sunshine fool you - although it was sunny, it was COLD!

Okay, so you get the point. I really had to restrict myself from posting more pictures.

As I said, the first two hours of our visit were amazing. We were able to leisurely stroll along. Around 10 or 10:30 the tour buses arrived... and suddenly the place was jam packed. Wall to wall people. It really started to suck all the joy out of the experience. I was happy we had gotten there early and were able to see a lot of the garden before the crowds got there. Saturday was suppose to be the Flower Parade, which is a well-known event. Originally we were planning to stick around to see the parade. However, we were going to have to hang around the packed gardens for another four hours before the parade got started. As much as I want to see and experience things... I couldn't really see this as being something I was going to enjoy. The crowds would have ruined it for me. So we left and did some shopping instead, which as it turns out was  lot of fun.

I'm glad we had a chance to see Keukenhof. For anyone who is interested in going, I highly recommend it. However, I would suggest you go early when it first opens, and (unless you really want to see the Flower Parade) go on a weekday. I think this is something my mom would enjoy. Hopefully in the next few years she comes out here when the time is right to see the blossoms.