The Netherlands - Keukenhof Tulips

Before the Boston Marathon terrorist attacks, I was busily posting entries about our trip to Germany and  The Netherlands. I still have a couple additional entries to post about our adventures, so here is the next one.

Yesterday was our day to go see the tulips at Keukenhof. If this was a normal year with normal weather the flowers would be blooming madly by now. We know the show won't be as good as we had hoped, but I am curious, and ever the optimistic tourist, so off we go.

Sometimes I think about Sherry Ott, and her manner of traveling, and compare it to the things we choose to do. I like going off the beaten path sometimes, but I also don't mind doing the usual tourist things. Keukenhof is a major tourist destination. I don't think Sherry would like it, but I do!

(I have to add now, that Sherry went to the Netherlands a couple of weeks after we did, and she DID go to Keukenhof! She doesn't have a post up yet about her experience, but I will be very curious to read it when she does. Check out Sherry's blog if you like to travel, or travel vicariously. I think its great: http://www.ottsworld.com/.)

Keukenhof is kind of like going to a Six Flags for flowers. There are the giant tour buses, and an amusement park-like entrance. Once inside the park we stop and have a quick lunch, and then set off exploring.

It is disappointing that more flowers aren't blooming, but it is a beautiful park, nonetheless. I have fun taking pictures of the early blooms, and there are greenhouses with all kinds of floral displays too.

At one end of the park there is a windmill that you can climb to look out over the flowers. If there were more flowers blooming the view from the windmill would be amazing, but as it is we have to use our imaginations.  

That's how traveling is sometimes. The Sistine Chapel is closed for a holiday, it rains steadily in Edinburgh, spring is very late in Holland. So it goes.

Once back in The Hague, Mel and Stan take us out for another amazing meal. This time we opt for Indonesian food, which apparently is a big deal in The Hague. We go to a place called DiDong and order something called Respottle. They bring us a big bowl of rice and many, many little plates of Indonesian food. Beef, chicken, pork, veggies, all cooked in different ways with different spices and flavors. It's wonderful food and makes me wonder where in the US we could get an Indonesian meal. Maybe New York? We'll have to research!