Tip Toe Through The Tulips

I love tulips.  They are happy flowers facing up at the sun smiling.  They are bright, cheerful and colorful.  But until I went to Keukenhof Gardens, I didn’t know  how many variations of tulips there are.

At Keukenhof there are 8 million tulip bulbs planted by hand each year on 70 landscaped acres.

The park is only open from mid March until Mid May but during that time they have nearly 65,000 visitors each day.

There are beautiful red tulips in different sizes and styles.

Pointed tip tulips in a variety of colors or multi colored tulips dotted the gardens.

I even saw a green and pink tulip that looked like a cabbage.

Vibrant colors everywhere.

Beautiful calla lilies in shades of yellows and pinks graced the lovely gardens.

Daffodils were in bloom and grew amongst the tulips.

There were many varieties of daffodils and they were at the peak of their bloom.

The reflection pools with shimmering colors soothing the soul as you gaze upon them.

A marvelous blue river of the Muscari Armeniacum flower flowing upward and spiraling around a bend.

Rhododendrons in bloom enhanced the beauty of the gardens.

Women dressed in period wardrobes sold seeds and provided maps of the park.

The park had an extensive orchid garden with many varieties of orchids.

The blue orchids are created by adding blue dye to the water.

We climbed the windmill in the park and looked out upon the fields of tulips.

Our tour guide, Ronald with Dutch Travel Advisor, was very informative.  After several hours at the gardens he took us to his home for lunch, where we met his lovely family.

After a delicious lunch of soup, salads and sandwiches, we were off to the Delft Pottery place where we learned about how they make their beautiful pieces, all hand painted.

To know if it’s true Delftware, the logo should be on the bottom.

A little canal ran across the street from the pottery place and there was a water tower that was not used any longer.

Along the roads we could see the giant windmills in all their splendor.  According to Ronald, there are 1200 remaining and they are protected against destroying or changing them from their historical significance.

The city of Delft is a smaller, quainter Amsterdam because of its canals and medieval churches.  It turned out our visit corresponded with King’s Day, the King’s Birthday.  All over the Netherlands people were dressed in orange and parties were going on including in Delft.  Everyone gets the day off.

King’s Day is the only day of the year that people can sell their stuff – like we sell our stuff at yard sales in the US.

I remember they had outside urinals similar to the ones they had in Amsterdam.  They were getting a lot of use because the beer was flowing heavily.

The Old Church was closed today.  This church was built in 1240.

The New Church, and yes that is it’s name, was built in the 1300s. It was open so we were able to get a brief tour.

The William of Orange mausoleum was quite impressive.  He was the first person interred in the New Church.  The Royal Family members have been interred there as well but there is no access to the public.

The church also has an organ with 3,000 pipes which was finished in 1839.

The Church also has many stained glass windows but one stood out because it was an abstract, by artist Annemiek Punt.

We did so much today we almost didn’t make it back to the boat on time.  An amazing day!