I will use just one word to describe Floriade......."kitschy"!

Here is what was advertised:

The park

The Floriade Park covers 66 hectares and encompasses 5 unique themed worlds separated by wooded areas. Each world has its own decor, programme and activities. Worlds in which you'll see, feel and experience nature in a totally different way each time.

Be a part of the theatre of nature! A theatre you’ll experience with all your senses, because you’ll be playing the leading role alongside nature. Where you’ll learn about nature and find out just how important flowers, plants, trees, vegetables and fruit are in our daily lives. Where you can listen to beautiful music. And enjoy a relaxing moment or two dangling your feet in the water.

Everywhere you go there is something new and surprising to discover. Together we will make Floriade 2012 a world of fascination. Spectacular and relaxing. Educational and fun. Active and contemplative.

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What we found were a lot of "science fair" type displays and people hawking their goods in the different "countries" visited. There was little Horticulture to be found......

Fortunately, I was able to get a few nice photos though!!!

When you enter the "country" buildings, most have people selling goods from their respective countries inside......

Giant screen where you could sit and watch the Olympics outside:

Giant Chia heads!!! LOL!

About 10 minutes after we got home the sky opened up (again) and the rain came pouring down! Last night the same thing happened, but we got stuck in it...without an umbrella! Oooops...lessons learned!

2012World Horticultural Expo, Venlo - The Netherlands
5 April to 7 October 2012

Over the last several days I've noticed we've fallen into somewhat of a pattern......

I am still going to Dutch classes twice a week, 2.5 hours a day with at least 1.5 hours of homework a day. I've learned a lot...but I'm not retaining it like I would have twenty or thirty ears ago! I've decided to forego any more formal lessons after this...I'm going to use the Rosetta Stone and some of the websites recommended by my teacher to learn some on my own. I haven't had time to do what I want to do like learn how to use my sewing machine! I found a quilt shop around the corner..I'd like to work on a quilt this winter!

Yesterday Andrew and I ran some errands and worked in the yard. We cut back some of the trees and bushes in the back "garden", planted new flowers in all the pots in the front of the house and the back and pulled weeds. It was nice working together outside! We wanted to get outside before it rains again!

This morning we got up to rain...rain....rain.....!!! At around 0900hrs. it blew over and though it was a little chilly, the rain was gone for the day! We rode our bicycles downtown and went to the Teylor's Museum.

Afterwards we decided to stop for a cup of coffee and some carpaccio at a little restaurant on the bank of the canal in town.

While we were sitting there we saw a little rubber boat go that looked like a rental boat. So, I took out my phone and "googled" the name of the company (Rent a Rib) and we found that it was just down the street from the restaurant. Soooooo, we rode our bikes down to the boat rental place and decided to rent one for an hour or two! What a wonderful thing to do!!! We took the boat out and we thought we were following the path on the map and ended up a little off course....so we ended up having to turn around. I called the company and told them we'd be a little longer than originally expected as we found our way through the canals that go through town.