Holland part 1: Stop to smell the roses

This is part 1 of a 3-part series on a weekend trip to the Netherlands. Click here for part 2 and here for part 3. If you just want to see pictures, click here. If you’re actually interested in a bit of narration, please carry on.

Keukenhof.

I have dreamt of going to this place ever since I saw my friend’s pictures on Facebook a few years back. Now, this is reality.

What beautiful weather we had! Unfortunately, there weren’t any roses. What I’d give to be in a garden of 5000 roses (TLP reference)! They’d be there in two weeks, but really, I can’t complain when there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of TYPES of flowers in bloom all around me. The fragrant smell, the endless waves of colours, so vibrant and so INTENSE…can you just say, breathtaking?

Some colleagues and I rented a car for the weekend road trip, and as I was the only one with a valid driver’s license, I drove the entire 650 kilometers in total (including getting lost, returning the car, etc.) It is surprising that the distance from Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium to Lisse in Holland, where Keukenhof is located, is shorter than the distance from Toronto to Kingston. There’s Europe for you in a relatively understandable scale.

The trip was smooth for the most part, thanks to handy dandy Ms. GPS. The only small stretch of traffic occurred interesting right at the Belgium-Holland border, just before we crossed the invisible frontier. It was strange because we were stuck there for a good 40 minutes, but there were no “slow down” signs, border patrols, collisions, or anything that visibly caused the jam. A colleague’s hypothesis is that leaving Belgium is an emotional event for many drivers and they took their time to slow down and say goodbye before entering another country. Personally I think it’s some sort of force field. Just sayin’.

From this point on I’m not even going to write bother writing long paragraphs. Just let the colours refresh your eyes and enjoy the beauty of Keukenhof, starting with the gallery of macros (click for full size).

The MACROS