G & J away from home

Sunday, 17 May

It was a hard sell for our ring-in cruise director to try and tell us there was something good about the Vista's engine trouble and our status as cruise refugees, but he explained that the Keukenhof gardens were only open 8 weeks each year with their tulip displays and the Vista would have got us to Amsterdam one day too late to see them.  Arriving here without the Vista we were in time to take a tour of the gardens on their last day of opening for 2015.

Ticket showing the last day - 17/05

We headed out from the hotel at 10am and got back just after 3pm with about three-quarters of an hour's drive each way meaning that we had about 3 hours to wander around the gardens.  (Plus a short break for lunch.)  Our guide gave us a quick overview for about 10 minutes, then let us loose.

The garden is full of beautiful old trees which provide dappled shade to much of the area and the tulips aren't only set out in regular-shaped flower beds.  Many of the beds had walking tracks through them and the tulips were inter-planted with other flowers.

Paths through the flower beds

Each year, once the 8 weeks of opening is over, the gardens and even some of the lawns are completely dug up and destroyed.  Work beings almost immediately getting ready for the following year's display, and the bulbs will all be in their beds in the ground by October, ready to winter-over underground before appearing in spring.

As well as flowers and 15 kilometres of walkway, there are canals and fountains, lakes and pavilions (named after members of the Dutch royal family), stalls selling food, cafes, a maze, a children's play area, bands playing, and a windmill.  (Can't do without a windmill!)

The windmill

This photo was on one of the main path's through the gardens - and one of the very few that were straight!  Gary might be taking notes on his favourite tulip types ... or perhaps just notes on the timings of the day for his diary.

Gary takes notes

Although tulips were the mainstay of the gardens there were plenty of other spring flowers there - the kind that smell like spring!  I suppose these kinds of flowers would have been at their best earlier during the 8 weeks the gardens were open but there were still enough around to scent the air as you wandered by.

It's not all tulips

The dappled light and (apparently) a late spring meant that many of the tulip beds were still looking wonderful.  A very few had been cut back and some were a bit overblown but there were still enough tulips to keep most people happy.

The swans on the lake are leased for the 8 weeks Keukenhof is open and their wings are clipped to make sure they stay around.  The coots and ducks we saw looked like they were locals!

Massed tulips and leased swans

There were a couple of canal crossings made on stepping stones but this walkway in the lake looked like great fun - for somebody else!  I volunteered Gary to try it out.

Gary stepping out

My contribution was standing on the bank taking photos.  He waited here in front of the fountain until I could take a photo of him without all his stepping stone companions in the shot.

Fountain in the lake

There were a number of fountains in the gardens, from one huge one that went through a cycle of displays and has seating around it so people could stop and watch, down to this little one set amongst the shrubs.

More fountains

As we were walking back toward the bus we were able to take photos of the places we had walked by with our guide.  There were some spectacular sights.

Tulips beds in all shapes and sizes

There were plenty of people wandering around the park (30 or more buses, local buses, miles and bike racks all full) but the place was so large that it didn't feel very crowded.

A lovely setting with old trees and new lawn

I'm going to add another post just so I can include my favourite flower photos out of the 210 I took!
______________________________