Keukenhof and the flower farms of Holland's 'bulb region'

Last weekend, I saw far more flowers in one day than I had likely seen in my entire life. We visited the tulip capitol of the world- Holland (now the Netherlands).

I had looked forward to this trip for some time. I could almost smell the flowers as I pulled the scarf over my face to protect it from the harsh German winter. We survived the Winter, and this was our reward.

Keukenhof is the second most popular tourist destination in the Netherlands, behind Amsterdam. I was expecting lots of flowers, but got so much more than that.

The park was huge! In addition to beautiful flowers, there was also a windmill from the late 1800's, which you could climb to get a panoramic view of the tulip fields surrounding the park.

At some point, I said to Billy "the only thing that could make this park better are some animals". Then, there they were!

There were goats, pigs, sheep, geese, chickens, and the star of the show was a very sweet young cow.

There were a few buildings situated around the park which featured special flower collections. One of the buildings was filled with orchids...

And another was filled with every kind of tulip you could imagine.

Although many of the tulips, daffodils, and hyacinth were in full bloom, it was apparent that there will still be more flowers, bushes, and trees blooming in the coming month.

One of the striking things about this park was the amazingly strong smell of flowers everywhere you go.

The park's gardeners/designers were very talented with their color choices. The flower displays were awesome; not just pretty flowers thrown together, but curving rows of beautifully cordinated colors and shapes.

I enjoyed the dramatic pairings of light and dark colors.....

But also the more spontaneous, multicolored fields.....

When it came time for lunch, we tried two dutch favorites. Billy bought a beenham sandwich (basically roasted sliced ham on a baguette), which was awesome, and I bought a herring sandwich with onions. This is one of the most loved foods here...I thought it was good, but VERY fishy!

Of course, in addition to looking at all of the beautiful flowers, there are vendors selling bulbs for most of the varieties.

There are classic, beautiful tulips.....

Really, really tall tulips (waist high).....

Gnarly, wrinkly tulips.....

Billy called these 'bedhead tulips'.....

Tulips that look like bird feathers.....

Or frilly lingerie.....

Fiery, exotic tulips.....

Beautiful, nearly transparent tulips.....

Huge daffodils.....

Daffodils that look like a fried egg.....

Backwards-looking daffodils.....

Colorful, fragrant hyacinth.....

Even a few flowers that were engineered right here at Keukenhof, like this one that Billy says reminds him of a pineapple:

After about 6 hours of wearing our fingers out taking pictures of flowers, we rented a couple bicycles and ventured out into the surrounding farm land, where much of the world's supply of these flowers is cultivated.

I had never seen anything like it; acres and acres of flowers, all separated into brightly colored rows, blowing in the breeze. And when I say breeze, I mean brutal North Sea wind that is totally not conducive to bike riding.

One question remains unanswered: how do they harvest the flowers without destroying them? The only way I can imagine is to cut them all by hand, but that would take forever!

By the end of our trip, we were exhausted; a day well spent. I would recommend this place to anyone. That is, anyone who loves flowers, baby cows, beautiful scenery, good food, and windmills, that is!

Click on this link to see the rest of our pictures! There are LOTS of them.

Zandvoort & Keukenhof, Holland (Netherlands)

*UPDATE*
We have uploaded the video we took while bicycling through the tulip fields!

Zandvoort aan Zee, The Netherlands

Last year, as we said goodbye to the beautiful German Spring and hello to the mild summer, we promised ourselves that the following Spring, we would go see the tulips in Holland. Holland (now called the Netherlands) is known as the flower capital of the world. As the brutal German Winter of 2011/2012 slowly came to an end, I was excited to plan this trip.

While we were going to the Netherlands specifically to see Keukenhof, a park at the center of the country's 'bulb region' (the area where the flowers are farmed), we stayed about an hour away in a tourist town on the North Sea called Zandvoort aan Zee.

As we stepped off the train in Zandvoort, we were greeted by the sound of seagulls. I never thought I would miss the sound of seagulls.

The town of Zandvoort is small, and the beach is the center of life here. Although it's still really cold here, it was so nice to take a walk on the beach and watch the parasailors.

An interesting thing about Dutch culture is the food....they LOVE french fries. People will just eat a meal of fries. Standing in the center of town, I could see at least 5 places advertising french fries. They also have fast food restaurants with vending machines that sell hamburgers and hot dogs, among other things. I have to admit, the vending machine makes a cheeseburger look a lot less appetizing.

Speaking of food, after going to the grocery store, we've decided that Holland rocks. They have cheap Dr. Pepper, and really cheap Doritos. You hear that, Germany?

Unfortunately, on our trip we were also forced to come face-to-face with the elusive GPST toilet (Google it for hilarious commentary).

This is the worst designed toilet of ALL TIME. Why yes, that IS a very small hole in the front and a LARGE FLAT SHELF lurking below the lid. I won't go into details, but just think about it....

Now, stop thinking about that, and think about the sunset over the North Sea instead....