Tiptoeing through the Tulips

When you think of Tulips, you think of Holland (or you should).  But did you know that the tulip is not originally Dutch?  It is actually Turkish.  The bulbs were given to Carolus Clusius in the late 1500's as a gift, and he brought them to the botanical gardens of Leiden University outside of Amsterdam.  The colorful flowers were such a beautiful sight that they sparked a frenzy.  By the 17th century, they were so popular and expensive they created the very first speculative economic bubble.  The prices were outrageous, and some of the rare bulb types would cost as much as a house (for one bulb).  This was called Tulip Mania and would end badly with the world's first stock market crash.  Nowadays, tulips aren't so expensive, but they are still beautiful.  And a huge cash crop for Holland.  Over 3 billion bulbs a year are produced in the Netherlands, with 80% of all flower bulbs in the world coming from the country.    Which makes it fitting that they also have the world's largest spring garden - Keukenhof.

Keukenhof, which translates to the "kitchen garden," was so named because the cook at the castle that used to be on the grounds would gather food from these same fields, which are now a world-famous attraction.  It has been on my bucket list since before we even knew we were moving to Europe.  We knew we would get here someday, but the timing had to be just right since the gardens are only open from late March through early May (about 6-7 weeks).  This year the moon and the stars aligned and we were on Spring Break during Tulip season, and I had my tickets in hand almost before I had the hotel room secured. 

We were at the earlier end of the season, but thankfully there were plenty of flowers in bloom.  Which made for a very sneezy and watery and itchy day for me and my allergies but I still wouldn't have traded a moment of it for all of the Benedryl in the world.  See the beauty for yourselves...

 Tulip Bulbs, growing more tulip bulbs under the ground.  The crowns are pretty, but the bulbs are the money makers.

 Searching to see if there are tulips named after them.  No for Stinkerbell but yes for MadHatter.

 The Calliope.

 

Of course, there were clogs to try on.

 And Stinkerbell did her best impression of the Delft girl and boy kissing.

 The windmill is a great lookout point over the grounds but we didn't feel the need to climb in with the crowds.

  Harvesting in the fields.

 A perfect setup for a photo.

 Entering the greenhouses where we found...more flowers.

After whiling away the morning and part of our afternoon in the gardens, we caught our bus back to town (and my eyes and nose thanked me) and headed up to take a look at Amsterdam from another point of view - from above.  The A'Dam is home of the highest swing in Europe (skipped it this time as we weren't sure Stinkerbell met the height requirement) and certainly has a unique view of central Amsterdam.  It was worth a picture and a quick walk around...

 Stinkerbell being Stinkerbell (which means making us laugh)

 Our adventure pic.

Once back down on the ground, we hopped on the ferry and crossed back to the mainland proper.  It was time for a few minutes of downtime, so we let Stinkerbell lead us, and she took us right to the cheese and wine store.  They were full for their 5 pm tasting, but they sent us to a hidden gem down the street that is one of their personal favorites.  Stinkerbell led the way and then sidled right up to the bar and took a load off...

 (the bartender was fun and gave her the empty glass for her "selfie")

 We sat, we discussed the best parts of our day, and we tried the food and wine flights.  And then the girls got the best surprise of all - 

Bunny pizza for dinner.  And they got to eat it in the hotel room while watching tv.  Something that, if you know B, they never get to do.

Another fantastick day in Amsterdam indeed.

Bikes and Dijks

Amsterdam is not known for it's bright and sunny weather so imagine my surprise when Day 2 dawned just as sunny and pleasant as Day 1.  It was fortuitous because we had booked a bike ride in the countryside for late morning.

Holland is the land of bikes and Amsterdam is known as one of the most bicycle-friendly large cities in the world.  But that doesn't mean it is easy to bike in the city.  They are aggressive bikers and will show no mercy to anyone who accidentally wanders into a bike path.  I had read this before I booked our tour and was wise enough to make sure we wouldn't have the kids biking in the city itself for too long.  It is just too dangerous for the uninitiated.  Instead, I booked the 30km countryside tour that would take us well to the north of the city and show us some of the incredible countryside that is uniquely Amsterdam's.

We picked up our bikes just across from the central train station.  This way we only had to cross 2 major streets before we were at the ferry that would take us across the waterway leaving the hustle and bustle of the city behind us.

 The city is all the way over there on the other side of the water.

Our ride took us through picturesque villages, past dams, on top of dijks and past gaggles of geese.  We stopped for a bit of history along the way and a few times to just enjoy the scenery and, though the ride is relatively flat, I was very happy with our longer stop about midway through for a piece of pie and some tea.   I was getting a bit more of a workout than the others because I was riding a tandem bike with Stinkerbell.   You would think that would make it easier, two people pedaling instead of one.  Not in this case.  This was a special bike that had me in the back and I was in control of steering and pedaling.  Stinkerbell was in front with a set of fixed handlebars and the ability to pedal, or not.  She chose or not much of the time.  We had a great time together but man that extra weight sure makes it more of a workout.

 Such quaint little towns with their cobblestone streets and hundreds of years old houses.

 Standing on the original dijk that build Amsterdam and kept the sea at bay.  Living in these small towns along this route is ideal and costly.  One of these small houses in this village sold for over 1 million euros a few years ago.

 We stopped for pie at this old converted schoolhouse!

 On the road again.

 The country houses!

 Sheep!

The windmill.

 It was an absolutely wonderful way to spend 4 hours and I highly recommend it if you are ever in the area.  It allowed us to see a bit more of The Netherlands than we would have had we just stuck to the city.

We got back and realized that all of the fresh air and exercise made us hungry.  Luckily, we stepped off of the tram right in front of a hot dog and frites truck.  Lunch was quick and easy and very good.

 
Our next stop was the Anne Frank House.  At the moment the house is under renovation and the only way to purchase tickets is online beforehand.  I checked almost immediately after booking our flights but they were already sold out (and had been for months).  We were hoping to luck out and secure a few of the tickets that they release each evening but unfortunately it didn't work out.  We did, however, get to look around the square a bit, stand in front of her door and see the place where she lived.  Hopefully, the next time we are in town we will know enough ahead of time so that we can tour the inside too.

The house, her statue and the girls at her front door.

Not being able to tour the house gave us a little bit of extra time to kill so we decided on a tour of the Westerkerk Toren.  Built in 1638, it is the tallest structure in the city and has some of the best views. 

 The tower as seen from one of the bridges.

Our tour guide took us up, and up and up and even let Stinkerbell play the bells.

And I found my name (well, almost) written on the walls.

At the top, we got a 360-degree view of the city...

 Uniquely Amsterdam.

 A different view of the Anne Frank house.  The small window in the white house just right of center is the window Anne would look out during her confinement.

It was nearing dinner time at this point so we decided to grab a bite to eat as we walked back to our hotel.  We stumbled upon an outdoor patio full of people who had just gotten off of work and were enjoying the warm day with a beer.  We thought, why not and joined them all and finished our second day in Amsterdam with full bellies and great stories to tell back home.