I have come to realise that I am now one of those people who talks about the weather incessantly. I’m sorry. However when the good days seem few and far between, you tend to celebrate when it’s good! And the weather has been just spectacular! So we did like Netherlanders and got on our bikes and headed out to the local woods.
There we found a likely patch of grass next to a canal (of course!), and watched the passing traffic. Would you like to know more?
We went to Vondelpark to see the Art Installation that’s there for the Summer.
The local crocuses have bloomed and are now withering in the turf, waiting to be carved up the next time the lawn is mowed. They have been replaced by the daffodils nodding in the breeze along the sides of the roads and canals.
With this in mind I was aware that we’d have to be getting our butts to de Keukenhof shortly! I didn’t want to miss the massive explosions of colour like we kind of did last year. If you remember, we saw it in its dying stages only, and a lot of it was being dug up when we were there.
I knew this year all the tulips were running late because of the extended cold weather we’d been having, and I was trying to time it just right while still being anxious about missing it!
As our tour bus drove us past the flower beds which should have been full of riotous colour, they were still desperately trying to come into bloom, and hence, a little lacklustre. Though you can see the red beginning to peek through here, and some yellow off in the distance. Through the rain. Yeah, did I ever pick a good day to go!
Yes, apparently this year, not only did I pick a rainy day to go, but the flowers still weren’t in bloom yet!
Interestingly we thought, knowing that Keukenhof is only going to be open for such a limited time, and the weather wasn’t playing ball, they had brought in “ring-ins” to put down the walkways. You can see them here with the still green flowerbed to each side.
In today’s exciting episode there was breakfast
a change of hotels
and dinner.
Then there was Dreamworld. Where we took their oldest tiger for his morning constitutional!
His name is Mohan, and he is 16 years old. Go to the drop box here for more info.
These plants make him sneeze.
He was all grumbly and grumpy and whingey because his belly was still full of last night’s horsemeat dinner!
When walking along the train line he stays to the sleepers to protect his sensitive paw pads. Makes him a quiet hunter.
Definitely the highlight of our day! Though dirty …
And it was all over by 9am. But we wouldn’t have given it up for ANYTHING! We had the biggest grins on our faces, and given that we spent the rest of the day on the high adrenaline rides, we kept grinning all day long!
There aren’t any photos of the rides. We were too busy riding them 😛
More to come!
Adventures are always more fun with Himself involved, and he out did himself with the organisation of this one! As usual for us we both over estimated how much we could fit into each day and packed way too much. Both in clothing and activities! Oh why oh why are there only 24 hours in a day? And why do I need to sleep?
But just for you (or maybe me) I have taken notes, and photos in order to recreate it all for you!
First there was a plane.
With the obligatory B movie reference.
And we flew North to the land of sun and sand.
In our first hotel we had this view. (Tough to take, I know.)
I never quite got over how the beach just goes on forever into the horizon.
The first theme park we went to was Seaworld. Where we went on rides,
spent a lot of time taking photos of sharks both over water
and from underwater.
And possibly not quite successfully resisting
buying toys. (Though this one still isn’t at his forever home …)
There is still much more to come, so stay tuned!
ghoti industries 