Keukenhof 2013 on Hemelvaartdag (Ascension Day)!!!

Today is a national holiday (Hemelvaartdag)...soooooo we decided to go to Keukenhof in Lisse, Netherlands. It's about 20 kilometers from our house. We had such a tough time trying to get there from Haarlem using public transportation that we decided to drive. It was an easy drive there. We arrived around 0930hrs.

I often wondered why the gardens are called Keukenhof......well I found out today!  In the 15th century  people hunted where the Keukenhof is now located. Herbs were collected for the kitchen of the castle of Jacoba of Bavaria. Hence the name:  Keuken meaning kitchen and Hof meaning courtyard.

Taken from Keukenhof website:

A unique day out among the flowers

Have you ever seen more than 7 million tulips, daffodils and hyacinths, all in bloom?

Come to Keukenhof, the world’s most beautiful spring garden. In addition to over 32 hectares of flowers, the spring garden offers 30 inspiring flower shows, 7 amazing inspirational gardens and 100 wonderful works of art. Keukenhof is world-famous, truly unique, and has for over 60 years provided a wonderful decor to the most beautiful photographs.

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We walked around the grounds:

 A HURDY GURDY (or barrel organ) organ!

Seeing this reminded Andrew of this song by Donovan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lKCUuyojDI


 We stopped for lunch:

 Andrew....making sure our new garden windmill works!

 Something sweet to eat (strawberries)!

 We went into the Oranje Nassau Pavilijon where lilies were on display:

Walked by the petting zoo:

Admired the fields of flowers:

 Then went into the Willem-Alexander Paviljon:

Walked around the grounds some more.....finding all the trees in full bloom!

 More fields of flowers seen from the windmill:

We then headed over to the Beatrix Paviljon where orchids were on display:

We walked around a bit more....

Look what we found!  Haarlem has it's own hyacinth!

 My personal favorite:

 Watched children feed the ducks and swans:

 Time to head home!  Fields and fields of flowers!!!

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We got home and I took pictures of our garden....and our new windmill!