Keukenhof

Last Thursday, March 18, Kelly, her mom, her Mom's friend, and I headed to Keukenhof. It was officially opened the day before by Princess Maxima and Mrs Svetlana Medvedeva, wife of the President of the Russian Federation. It has been a long cold winter so we wern't sure how many flowers would be blooming but we took our chances and headed there on opening day.

It is a beautiful garden that is rather large. There are ponds and fountains and trees and a windmill. Most of the flowers wern't in bloom yet but there were still several indoor structures that housed many flowers and flowerbeds. Those were decked out and in full bloom. There were also pots of plants scattered throughout the park to add color and beauty.

Of course I had to take a picture of the pink tulip!! I'm working on my photography skills and trying to be more creative. I'm not sure how it is working, but I do like the tulip picture!!

They had a group out singing under the windmill. They were singing fun, upbeat, happy songs for the opening day. I have no idea how long they were there since we didn't get there until late afternoon, but they were very enjoyable!

These little suckers are blooming all over the country side. They are in the medians of the roads, scattered around parks, and can be bought at the grocery store. They are a bulb plant, but I'm not sure if they are officially a tulip or something similar. Since they are so common I could probably find out a lot of information about them if I investigated it further. I haven't, my appoligies.

Red tulips might be my new favorite. Even more so than pink. I know, its quite the shocker. They are just so radiant and pretty. We even had some at our house a few weeks ago and they are still my favorite. There is just something about their deep, vibrant color.

Of course I had to take a picture by the pink potted plants. I think these might have been hydrangeas but I can't promise. I did learn something about hydrangeas though, that their blooms change color with the acidity levels in the soil. Stu gave Kelly one while he was here and I'm not sure if its dead yet, but it is headed that way. We are not good flower people.

See! They had lots of flowers planted indoor! A wide variety of all colors of tulips. Even they were still on the verge of blooming though. I guess you can't see all the flowers at once and it makes sense that they stage the flowers to bloom during different periods so that the place is always beautiful. I guess I'll be making a few trips back. One of which will be this weekend with my Mom when she comes. I wonder how much will have changed during this week of warm weather and sunshine.

The theme for Keukenhof this year is "From Russia with Love" which is why the gardens were also opened with the help of the Russians. They also bred a new type of tulip called the VVV tulip, and its baptism will be March 31 at 12. I know this from the web site HERE. I have not become a lunatic tulip follower...at least not yet. They are pretty plants though! Below is a picture of an indoor exhibit we saw. They were still setting it up and getting things ready, but there's nothing like a ballerina dancing in the flowers!

Below, they have carved out and planted a mosiac of St. Basil's Cathedral. I can't wait to see this in bloom! I will probably have to go back several times to see everything in bloom. I might look into their spring pass. The story though, is that after the architect designed and built the cathedral the "President" of Russia had him blinded so he could not recreate anything to compete with it. I'm glad I wasn't born in Russia although I would love to go there someday!

These tulips have a crinkly type edge around them, sort of like they are wilting but not. I have never seen such tulips until I bought them last week at the local flower vendor. I thought they looked interesting. Of course the tulips here are much prettier than the ones we had, but I still find the deep red ones my favorite.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of the flowers! It sounds like you will be seeing more of them when I go with Mom this weekend. I can't wait for her to arrive and be able to do a bit of touring. We have planned to go to Delft, Brugge, Antwerp, Amsterdam, and then Nurnberg and Prague. It will be a fun but busy week while she is here. I have taken off a few days of work to be able to spend extra time with her. It is a very great birthday present, I couldn't ask for more....but then we are going to the diamond district.....

Oh Monday...Must you always come?

Oh Monday, why do you always come so fast? I apologize for my blogging absence. This is the longest time I haven’t blog since I started this. Many fun and exciting things have happened since Wednesday. First, we went to Keukenhof on Thursday and on Friday I headed to Germany for a weekend with my host parents. I got back last night.

So about this journey home…..I jumped on a train in Halle, Germany at 2:07 Sunday afternoon. I crawled into bed at 12:03 Monday morning. What should have been a 7 hour journey turned into a 10 hour torture. Apparently, our train had an accident somewhere outside of Amersfoort, Holland. We endured a 75 minute delay full of police walking up and down the outside of the train, Deutsche Bahn (DB) people walking, and the train conductor making announcements out of breath. No idea what happened. I Googled but didn’t find anything. Well after this accident our train is kaput. Yup, that’s what they said, a literal German translation. The English translation: broken; such elegance with the languages. It got a chuckle out of all of the passengers, at least in my car. We also had to wait for an alternative driver. This was fun. By the time our train got going, there was a group standing outside where our engine car would have been (I’m assuming).

Our train was originally headed to Schipol. I’m glad I wasn’t on that train playing roulette with a plane to catch! I just wanted to get home. I’m also glad I brought a 600+ page book with me to read. It’s almost finished. I started it on the journey. The trained ended in Amersfoort, well before the place where I was supposed to get off. So I get off (I don’t have a choice) and another train headed to Amsterdam Centraal is set to arrive at 10:29. All sorts of trains had delays. I don’t know why or how much was the domino effect or if something was going on with the train power grid. I finally arrive in Haarlem at 11:30. I have to figure out the busses. Now, I know how one bus line works. The others, no idea. I ask around and I’m told to wait for bus 140. Ok, I can handle that. The bus is parked there, but the driver is nowhere in sight. It isn’t schedule to leave until 11:44 so I way the 10 minutes. The driver shows up and I ask to verify and he tells me to ride till Tempeliersstraat. I can handle that. It’s only about 3 stops and takes 4 minutes. The good part of this journey, I discovered the Tempeliersstraat stop. The stop we knew about only 1 bus goes there. The other, about 10 different lines swing by. When headed to the train station, any of them work so it was nice to know that we have so many options at our fingertips.

I was so tired by the time I got home last night. I really wanted to wake up early and say good bye to Kelly’s mom but I didn’t hear a thing until my alarm went off well after they had left. Whoops. I’m sorry! I hope you have a safe trip home and it was so nice to meet you!

I am now exhausted today and don’t really want to get into a recount of everything just yet. It is too overwhelming for my brain this morning. I do want to leave you with a teaser picture though.

I believe my mom will be here this Friday in celebration of my birthday. I'm excited. Another fun week and weekend of touring!!

Hump Day

Today is Wednesday and the big move day. Well, the start of it anyways. All empty desks and computer are to be taken out of the office and to the warehouse or upstairs so that we can prepare for the floor lifting. All cabinets need to be emptied out so that they can be carted out with the pallet jack and dolly. Now, the rest of the office seems to grasp this. The little office Kelly and I sit in, has had no sense of moving. Not even a single binder removed from the shelves and put in a labeled box. I guess they’re not worried.

My birthday is in 2 weeks and 1 day. Now, I realize most people don’t mention their birthdays at all but usually, I celebrate it. Shout it from the mountains, celebrate. Last year I took over poor Ron’s calendar and made a big countdown followed by happy balloons and martini glasses drawn on the magical day of April 1. Since this calendar hung behind the counter, all customers saw it as well. I think anyone remotely involved with me on any level knew about my upcoming birthday. I was so excited. It’s my day!! My one day!! Everyone I worked with even surprised me a cake and ice cream. They used to celebrate birthdays but stopped then made an exception just for me. It was a great day!!! We won’t get into all of the jokes everyone played on me that day also. It just goes with the territory of having your birthday on April Fool’s Day.

But this year, I’m not as excited. My friends aren’t as close by. Tabatha (whose birthday is 2 days after mine) isn’t even all that excited. When the pond splits the fun duo it is just less fun (and tax season, that’s always a dampener for an accountant). I’m not sure how many people here even know my birthday is coming up. I am also perplexed by the traditions here. Another lady at work had her birthday not too long ago and there was tart, which was fantastic. But did she bring her own tart? I think so. That’s fine; I just have no idea where to get amazing tart from. I could probably ask, but I just don’t have that fun, close personal relationship with people here. Not like the ones I made the people of Colorado develop with me. It’s alright though, you can’t win them all.

It is a real possibility, though, that I will be heading to Barcelona on the first or second depending on how airfare goes. So, celebrating my 24th birthday in Barcelona isn’t really a reason to be sad and depressed about the lack of total excitement for my birthday. It’s actually a reason to start celebrating! Kelly and I are both dying to go, but for some reason neither of us can get really PUMPED about it and book it. We also need a European mailing address to be able to buy cheap tickets online, so it’s dependent on the bank account I’m opening tomorrow. Hopefully, we’ll get it booked this weekend or next week and be able to blog about an amazing 4 days there and now how we got robbed. That’s our other concern.

Time to get moving…it appears this mission is in full force with the rest of the office. I guess I should try and help somewhere!

Utrecht

On Sunday, besides playing fantasy in my future castle, we visited Utrecht. It was such a quaint little town, that was closed for the most part. We wern't able to do a lot of shopping but we had fun walking around and seeing different things.

Utrecht is the religious capital of the Netherlands dating back to the 8th century. Until the Golden Age, Utrecht was the most important city in Northern Netherlands until Amsterdam became the cultural and populous capital. Utrecht is also home to Utrecht University, the largest university in the Netherlands along with many other higher education establishments.

There is some evidence of habitation of Utrecht dating back until 2200 BC although the founding date is generally considered 50 AD. As far as I’m concerned though, the town has been around a LONG time! In Medieval times Utrecht was a popular area for transport because the Rhine river used to run through the town. Since it was a religious place, it was previously a walled, fortified town. After the mid 1800s the walls came down and the town was allowed to expand. Since the Rhine had moved (oddly, but apparently it did) the arm that was left as well as the moat became more canal like which made moving goods via water ways still possible. To support this tradition people began building wharf like basements at water left. This basically created a 2 level street system. You can still see them today!

Since Utrecht is considered such an important religious place, many churchs are still intact. Dom tower (in the photo below) is one of the highest buildings in Utrecht. It used to be connected to the church, but the nave collapsed in 1674. There is now a tree and a pleasant court yard type area seperating the two.

Below is the rest of Dom Church. It was a beautiful church. Online, it said it wasn't opened but when Kelly and I showed up, people were going in so we followed. We wern't the only visitors, but I do believe most people going in where there for church related activities. There were clearly people enjoying coffee after mass but we poked around and took some discrete pictures then went on our way.

Below is a picture of the inside and the organs. I cannot wait till it is summer and there are organ concerts at our local church in Haarlem. I still haven't seen the inside of it, but I did learn that it is Protestant so that is interesting. Usually, the big pretty ones are Catholic.

More pretty, stained glass windows!!! I love all of the art work and time put into these creations so that we can all enjoy their beauty.

Here is a courtyard behind the church. It was so neat. Its uses have transformed over the years originating as a place for meditation. It is now an herb garden. Between the times of meditation and today's herb garden it was used as a gather spot popular for beer and poker, a place to store crops, then later wagons, then later ammunition powder and supplies. At least they don't waste space!

A picture of the outside. So many church's follow the gothic/neo gothic architecture. I still enjoy each and every single one of them though! It still amazes me how people with such "limited resources" built such amazing, beautiful structures.

After walking around town, and before the castle, we got hungry so we stopped for lunch. This place as busy, so we figured it had to be tasty and it was! Kelly's dad reccomended the mustard soup, which sounds a bit scary. They served it and it seemed like a soup day so I sprung for it and a tuna fish sandwhich. The soup was great!!!! Probably one of my new favorites. It was also served in a great little bread bowl which probably didn't help any. The sandwhich was fantastic too. We won again. During lunch we got a bit of entertainment, the resident cat. Can you imagine a restaurant in the US having a pet cat roaming around?? It would never fly. I had to take a picture of the cat sitting on one of the tables, welcoming visitors. This was the 2nd table we saw it sit on, not including the chairs it used as scratching posts and napping spots.

MMM Tasty cat infested tables. I have a pretty high tolerance for "unsanitary" things, but I'm just not a fan of cats on the inside. Private or professional, I think they are dirty. There was also an article I read that supported the argument that cats were dirty indoor creatures. Either way, we found this public restaurant issue interesting compared to standards back home.

Kelly's mom and her friend Leona are headed to Amsterdam today. We filled them full of advice and knowledge to make the most of their trip so I hope they wern't too confused and have a good time! It appears to be sunny outside so that is 1/2 of the battle right there. I guess spring really is rolling in because it seems to only be getting warmer around here. And by warmer, in case you were wondering, I mean 39-45 F. Not exactly a day at the beach. Tomorrow they are headed off to Antwerp to look around and browse the diamond district. How could you not??

My Dream Worlds Have Collided

This weekend was a very enjoyable one. Kelly took the girls to the airport early Saturday morning, I slept in. Then we just relaxed around the house in our pj’s all day. It was a day that we needed after a busy week and in preparation for an early Sunday of sightseeing. Kelly Googled about Utrecht, or destination and found a castle, De Haar. We had to go visit it!! It is a real life castle!! I love fairytales. And this is where my two fantasies collided.

We actually saw this truck on our way out. But for stories sake, that detail isn’t important. Let my fairytale life begin:

I admit, I find a young guy driving a big truck a very attractive combination. A big truck, in my eyes, can make just about any guy attractive. Unless he is short, then he just looks silly. But either way, I like big trucks. It is completely shallow of me, and I recognize this. There are more important things in life, but I still can’t help but notice the big pretty trucks. This is where my life fantasies collide. Meet dream man’s vehicle:

His truck was parked outside of his (and my future) house/castle. I figured I better go in and find him so welcome to my future residence:

Don't worry, I'll be having plenty of large parties and there are a ton of guests’ rooms. I don't own it yet, so I couldn't take pictures inside but my dream room is there. It is pink. It’s meant to be. When you arrive after receiving a gorgeous invitation in the mail, or an extremely excited phone call from me, you will keep an eye out for the entrance gate. The parking is on your right. I’m sorry you can’t park closer, we don’t want the cars bothering the horses.

Please, mind the moat and don't fall in on your way across the draw bridge. If a child falls in, I'm sorry. I can't make any promises. I don't yet have alligators installed, but once it warms up, it'll be a given.

Welcome to my humble abode. I would like to thank you for taking the time to come visit me! If you woul like to stop by and see the horses on your way to the main house, they are on the left as you come over the bridge. There will be plenty of time for rides later, but if you can't resist (Karla) they are there for a pet. They love the carrots. You can find them in a bucket outside of their stalls.

Please enjoy your stroll up to the main house (on the right). One of my staff members should meet you at the gate to help you with your luggage. After you check in with one of my staff members, your room might be in the Chalet (on the left). We will notify you of any events that you need to know about. Until then, enjoy your visit!!!

My landscape teams work very hard. If you must wonder across the grass to look at my blooming rose bushes in the rose garden, please tread lightly. Otherwise, they would appreciate it if you would stay on the paths.

As you make your way around there is lots of water. In the summer months I'm sure I'll have a mosquito problem, but since the world is still frozen (as far as I’m concerned) it is not yet a worry. If you get thirsty on the way, there is a little snack bar area for you to grab a drink and enjoy the scenery. Just don’t drink too much, there is plenty of time for that later.

If I don't have anything going on, I will try to meet you at the main gate. If not, please proceed across and up towards the main entrance.

Welcome!!! I'm so happy you were able to find it! I hope the gardens didn't offer too much trouble. If you are still frisky though, there is a hedge maze out across the way. Maybe we can head out there later, or you can just send the kids. It'll keep them busy for hours!

I hope you enjoy your stay here!! There will be plenty of food and fun. For the dancing, there will be a personal hair dresser to help the women with any makeup and hair up-dos needed. Don't worry about heat and water. My future home is completely up to date with running water since the early 1900s and radiant heat. If you don't see a radiator in your room, don't worry, its under the floor. The previous owner, Hélène de Rothschild thought ahead and didn't want to trouble visitors with their unpleasant appearances. I thank her for her forward thinking.

On Sunday morning there will be a church service. You may attend if you like, but not required. It will take place at the small chapel out back around 10am. It will be followed by tea in the main hall and lunch shortly thereafter in the dining room. Please, respect the occassion and dress appropriately.

If the weather is nice, there will most likely be some tables set up in the front of the entrance, to the side of the chapel. From here we will be able to enjoy the scenery and the beautiful pond. I hope you don't mind the fresh air.

I hope you have all enjoyed your visit. Please don't overstay your welcome, as nobody likes a mooch. If you don't leave, i'll have my prince husband drive you out with his big, giant truck. We don't want tire marks on the grass. We ask for your consideration. It was such a pleasure having you all and can't wait for your next visit. Until then, please don't let the door hit you on the way out.

I am not going to ruin my fairtale dream life by recounting the total, actual history of the place. If you want to burst my bubble, click HERE for the website.

Thanks for stopping by! Tomorrow, you can hear about the near by town of Utrecht, where we get all of the provisions needed for hosting such a glorious stay.

The Hague

So, I didn’t think ahead on how to upload the pictures so you will get a backwards recount of Sunday. After Madurodam we headed into Den Haag for a look around and some lunch. Since the pictures are backwards, we shall start with our visit to Scheveningen. It is one of the 8 districts in The Hague and is a modern beach community with a pier and a lighthouse. We parked and only had enough change for 45 minutes. Right when we were coming back to the car the cop man was checking and looking up our license plate, our parking ticket expired 30 min earlier. Thankfully he was very nice and didn’t give us the 50 Euro ticket he was threatening. A successful Sunday.



A beautiful sunset over the North Sea. We watched it set while we ate some tasty Dutch pancakes and poffertjes. They are so amazing! I might be able to live off those two Dutch "staples."

The glowing red sky was so amazing!

The beginning of the sunset.

The above picture is the UN Peace Palace. It was so pretty. We found it by accident driving out to the beach. All of us girls were ready to move in...and it was PINK! The Hague is the 2nd UN city after New York as well as the judicial center for the EU. It plays a very important rold in a lot of world politics.

This is the Binnenhof. We saw the miniture one earlier in the morning at.


This is a store that has a very modern look with the multicolor bricks. A miniture version of this building was also featured at Madurodam!

This is the courtyard for the Binnenhof. It was such a georgous area. I can only imagine what it looks like when the queen and her parade and horses ride through for the official ceremonies.

This is the front of the UN judicial room at the Binnenhof. You have to call ahead and schedule a guided tour if you want to see inside. There was, of course, also a mini version at Madurodam. We saw so many Dutch highlights, big and small!

The girls are leaving early tomorrow morning and we plan on going to the Beverwijk and then on Sunday we want to go to Utrecht and see the castle there as well as their large tower. It looked so pretty at Madurodam. It will be nice to have a semi relaxing weekend at home. I'll keep you posted!

Madurodam

Welcome to Madurodam! It is a neat little village that shows the highlights of all Holland in 1/25th of the original size. It is so cute! It is like a miniature country with mini people and mini cars. This is the dream land for any model builder. They have ships, planes, houses, towers, flowers, cheese, horses, trams, busses, and the high speed Thalys train. They have it all!

When you walk up the first thing is they give you an idea of where you’re located in comparison to the rest of the world. I love these signs; I always think they are fun. I also learned mom and dad are approximately 9,000+ km away. I waved, I doubt they saw.

The next famous Dutch boy…Hans Brinker the boy who stuck first his finger, then his whole arm in the dike so that it wouldn’t break and flood Haarlem. Yup, Haarlem. If it wasn’t for little ol’ Hans, Haarlem wouldn’t be a town.

Madurodam was opened in 1952 as a war monument and a charity foundation. One of the initiators was Mrs. Maduro. Mr. and Mrs. Maduro wanted to erect a monument in memory of their only son, George, who died of typhus while in the Dachau concentration camp. The Maduro’s met Mrs. Boon-van der Starp who wanted to raise money to help support a sanatorium who helped students with tuberculosis recover. The costs of running such an institution are high and she had heard about a miniature English city who’s revenues were so high the owners were able to make large donations to surround hospitals. An architect was approached about helping to build the miniature city and drew up some plans for a scale of a happy Dutch city to be 1:25 of the original size. Everyone that was approached about this project was very enthusiastic about it, including the mayor of The Hague who donated the piece of land in the ‘Scheveningse Bosjes’ in the form of a long lease. Students from the Delft Technical University helped to clear the land and so began Madurodam. The visitor center was built in 1996 and the Schipol airport received a complete renovation in 2003 to include space for the planes to taxi via magnetic fields. It is pretty cool!!!

The detail they have in all of the buildings/models is amazing. This church looks just like the real thing, just 1/25th the size! It had mini stained glass windows and everything. I'll have to track down the real one....

Below, the little people are trading cheese the traditional way in the Gouda market. I have no idea how cheese is traded today, but I'm sure they have a much more "sophisticated" way than this. I would love to see this done though! The mini people just work so hard!

Kelly and I had to take a picture next to the Frans Hals Museum. The real museum is located in Haarlem. We have not yet been, but maybe with our next visitors. The museum contains works of art from the 17th, 18th, and 19th century along with works from Frans Hals himself. It looks to be very interesting!

Its not the Netherlands if Anne Frank's house is not part of it. They have mini representation of it at Madurodam. Such an important piece of history cannot be left out!

The famous Dam Square. I don't know how many times I have walked around, and around, and around this square. The Royal Palace is also there along with the church we have not yet been inside. One of these trips.....

Since Kelly and I are being offered this amazing experience through work, we figured we better take a picture with the creation of our livelyhood. The offshore rig in the North Sea. It was a pretty big model and to imagine it as 25 times as big is very difficult! I would love to visit one, someday!

So, its official. Tulip season at the Keukenhof opens next week on March 18th. I cannot wait to go see the gardens. This year's theme is "From Russia with Love." The pictures on the website make it look pretty spectacular! The official opening will be on March 17th by Mrs Svetlana Medvedeva, wife of the President of the Russian Federation, in the presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands. I would love to see Princess Maxima!! She is my idol! Sadly, though, duty calls and we must work that day. Definitely plan on hearing a review about the place next week though! I'm so excited for tulip season! Here is a picture of the mini version:

If its this pretty out of plastic and glass I can't wait for the real thing. Luckily the tulip fields are not too far away so it will give a whole new meaning for taking a cruise through the country side. Yay tulips!!!

Tomorrow I will finish telling about our Sunday tour of The Hague. After starting it off with Madurodam, it had to be a good day! I was just so happy Kelly and the girls like Madurodam so much. I am 2-0 for good travel reccomendations.