Sunday morning May 5th, we walked a short distance to catch the Metro. We were a bit surprised to learn that Amsterdam has a subway, given that the city is below sea level.
It was a short subway ride to RAI Amsterdam, and it was there that we caught a bus to Keukenhof Gardens which is one of the world’s largest flower gardens and known specifically for tulips. They are only open to the public for eight weeks each year, and we visited in week seven. They plant approximately seven million bulbs each year…a massive undertaking! 2024 marks their 75th anniversary, and the garden’s schedule played a key role in picking the dates for our cruise. I purchased our tickets back in December, right after they went on sale for the season, to ensure we’d be able to go!
We found that transit in Amsterdam is really easy to navigate, and they make it very tourist-friendly by allowing you to just tap in and out with your credit card – no need to buy tickets! And, on the bus trip to Keukenhof, we passed through the business district which is South of Amsterdam, and saw some of the most interesting and unusual modern office buildings. This city may now be #2 on my list for best architecture…
After about a 30-minute bus ride, we arrived at Keukenhof and the gardens were truly amazing. Tulips galore in every color, size, shape, and variety you can imagine – so many types that we’d never seen before, and some that were really massive! Many of the tulips were past their peak, given that we visited in week seven of their eight-week season, but there were still many to enjoy, and we were really impressed by all the other flowers they have. Rhododendron, daffodils, orchids, and many more.
It is such an artistic setting – everything was a photo opportunity. The indoor pavilions were staged with beautiful and unique photo-worthy scenes. I can’t even imagine the team of artists and designers they must employ, along with the horticultural staff, to create all of this.
We spent about five hours there, with a quick break for lunch and for afternoon ice cream. Thank goodness I had my power block – my phone battery kept draining and I had to keep charging it, I was taking so many pictures. Mark was a real trooper, never once complaining when I wanted to take “one more photo!”. And how lucky we were to have gorgeous weather and no rain for the entire day!
We made our way back into Amsterdam, and realized how much we missed how easy life was on the cruise…just walk to the dining room and decide what to order. Now, we had to research restaurants, figure out how to get to them, make sure the menu would be in English, etc. etc. Life is hard. Anyway, we managed to eat, and then walked around, enjoyed more of the amazing architecture, and took more pictures, of course! We were exhausted once again.
