Holland, v4

Hey guys, we went to Holland!  Again!  I'm pretty sure you know all about it, devoted readers that you are.  It was, after all, the fourth time.  But only the second time for C.  As usual, it was great-- lots of flowers, french fries in cones, canals, miniature tulips, and even one of those crazy Czech bike machines.

Mostly, this is a picture post, so behold!

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

Hot Times in Holland!

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you might think we only go on vacations.  This is sadly untrue.  We do have more vacations than you might expect because we are embracing the Danish holiday mindset.  But the shameful truth is that having lived here for almost 4 years, we don't see much to blog about.  This is just our life now.  It's not that weird or special or exotic.  It's just us, B and E, and little C, going about our business.

Last week we took a little break from the routine and headed down to the Netherlands for our almost-annual tulip pilgrimage.  It didn't disappoint.  Holland is just about the best place on Earth in the springtime.  We set up a home base in Haarlem but also traveled out to tulip country, visited the famous gardens at Keukenhof, and prowled around Amsterdam.

A fine start as we ride the bus out to the airport.  C gets into the Dutch spirit with an orange sheep sticker on her nose.

A genuine "kermis!"  We were in Haarlem on King's Day and enjoyed the festivities at De Groote Markt.

St. Bavo's Church in Haarlem

I think Holland beats Paris any day.  The weather is warmer, the food is better and cheaper, and there are tulips!

Holland continues to be perfect.

Even though we were a bit late for prime tulip viewing, some fields were still dramatically stripy!

Extra-patriotic orange tulip fields just outside of Keukenhof.

But surprise!  Up close they're actually red and yellow striped tulips!

C digs the tulips.

C's mind is ever-so-slightly blown by the sheer riotousness of Keukenhof.

Ahhh!  We love the tulips!

We love them so much!

Tulips speak for themselves.

C demands to see the view from above.  It's not always easy being shorter than a tulip.

As far as the eye can see!

Tulips in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam. 

Also in the Vondelpark.  See the crown on the A?  That's for King's Day!

If you weren't sure how big a deal King's Day is--it's so big, there are special edition orange M&Ms.

Just toodling around Haarlem.

Toodle toodle toodle toodle.

Early morning in Haarlem.

Almost home again.  At the train station in Vejle.

December 13--Advent at ADAFT 2012!

Last night, B and I were talking about things that we're looking forward to little C experiencing some day.  Things like:

wooden Brio trains

chocolate cake

pajamas fresh from the dryer

Dutch tulip fields

making a snowman

hot apple cider

going swimming

playing board games

doing silly dances

blowing bubbles 

After we wrote this list, it sounded a lot like the famous song, "My Favorite Things". For some reason, some people seem to think that's a Christmas song. It isn't, but that's OK.  It's still fun to listen to Andy Williams sing it at Christmastime.

Well then, if that's not the Advent calender point of the day, what is?

We propose that everybody should do one of these things today. So maybe you're not on your way to Holland right now, and there aren't so many tulips at this time of year anyway.  No problem!  Hit up a toy store and get down on your knees to play with the train set!  Go out and build a snowman!  Invite a friend over for games, and while you're at it, have a piece of cake!

Holiday in Holland!

On Saturday, B and I took the CityNightLine train to Amsterdam. We booked a sleeping compartment and settled in for a long ride. After arriving in Amsterdam, we took a small train to Haarlem, and then a bus to Noordwijkerhout.

Noordwijkerhout is the heart of bulb country. Even from the bus, we could see huge fields of tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and lilies.

It was amazing, and so utterly fabulous that we took about 400 pictures of flowers, with an average of 3.7 million blooms in each photo. Keep reading to see some of them!

We also enjoyed the fantastic Dutch spring weather. It was warm and sunny all the time, so we were able to walk everywhere. On this trip, we walked 54 kilometers. We covered a variety of terrain, including flower fields, dunes, beaches, and polders. B even saw his arch-enemy Ammophila in its native environment!

Before arriving, we weren't sure how many tulips we'd be able to see, so we planned to visit Keukenhof, the biggest bulb flower park in the world. It was beautiful, although packed with tourists. On the other hand, tourists who like tulips are my favorite kind! It was fun to see some of the more exotic flower varieties and specially designed exhibits, though as it turned out, we saw plenty of tulips for free just walking around.

Besides wandering around the Dutch countryside, we made small trips to Den Haag and Haarlem. Both of those cities were really nice, with lots of trees, parks, and attractive canals. We saw many bicyclists--though maybe not as many as here-- and the Dutch people were very friendly and helpful.

In Den Haag, we visited Madurodam, which is basically Holland in miniature. B visited there as a small boy and has never forgotten it, so I said we had to go. It was worth the trip--there were even tiny tulip fields!

E is excited about getting on the train!

Bam! Lots of yellow tulips!

Tulip fields somewhere between de Blink and Noordwijkerhout (I love Dutch!)

Not far from our hostel were these nice fields

B thinks about tulips

Stripes of tulip colors

E in tulips

One thing we didn't expect is how good everything smells!

Sunset added some nice lights to the tulips. It smelled really good here too.

E is inspired

Keukenhof was pretty cool

One of the rarer colors we saw at Keukenhof

Orange is the color of Holland, so I think these must be extra-Dutch

See what I mean?

Some more tulips at Keukenhof

Flower production is serious agricultural business in this region.

Here we are on the beach near our hostel

Holland in miniature! At Madurodam in Den Haag.

Tiny tulips and a tiny tulip tractor

B-zilla!

A very nice springy park in Den Haag

Haarlem