a tiptoe through the tulips

Saturday morning, we woke up and the sky was clear. We decided to take advantage of this and head out to the famous Keukenhof Gardens. Keukenhof is about 35 minutes away and there are millions of bulbed flowers set out in a huge garden. It's sort of one of those places to which tourists flock and the locals avoid, not because it's a bad place, it's just a place to which one *could* always go.

Walking in, we were greeted with the smell of hyacinth, which is one of my favorite flowers. It seemed like there were rivers of flowers weaving their way through the garden. Our first stop was a walk along simulated lily pads in a pond.

We continued to wend our way through and in the distance, we could hear strains from the Grease soundtrack. Eventually, we ended up by another entrance to the gardens where there was what I want to call a calliope, for lack of the correct word. It was a beautiful machine and everyone seemed intrigued by it. We sat before it for about 15 minutes and at a fresh waffle with whipped cream. Inside the waffle, there were literally nuggets of granulated sugar, which made it supertasty. If you click on the video below, you will hear part of its tune.

We walked through additional gardens and came upon a small knoll containing giant chess pieces and littered people lounging on giant brown, orange, and white pillows, known as Fatboys. We decided to join them and lay down for a rest. The Fatboys seemed like modern versions of the giant pillows that my father used to make. These were made from an industrial, seeming untearable fiber and had straps with which you could adjust the shape.

As everyone knows, the 2008 Olympics will be held in Beijing. Because of this, the Keukenhof featured a garden with Chinese elements. We actually missed this garden, but got other exposure to the Olympics spirit.

There were other water obstacles like the lilies, a playground for kids, and plenty of places to rest. The place was accessible with strollers and the food was reasonably priced, so all in all, it is a nice way to spend an afternoon. Below are some other pictures from the gardens.