Tulips, Tulips, Tulips (Keukenhoff, Part One)

Our Saturday in The Netherlands was all about flowers. Seriously, all. about. flowers! 

Typical view from the train

The friends I travelled with specifically booked this particular weekend to go to Keukenhoff, a famous flower garden, as it is the peak weekend for flower viewing. There was a flower parade (similar to California's Rose Bowl Parade on New Year's Day), flowers, and festivities. The only downside: because it's the premier flower viewing weekend of the year, the visitors seemed to outnumber the flowers on occasion! 

Rows and rows of organized flowers

I had so many flower pictures, I decided to post twice about the Keukenhoff flower show. In this post you will see all of the photos from my iPhone, and the next post will be all photos from my - clears throat - real camera. But in all honesty, iPhones take such good pictures anymore, I often opt not to take my big, heavy DSLR just for ease of getting around. 

A riot of flowers

The colors of the flower gardens were out of this world! The pictures mostly do them justice, but the wafting of their scent made the experience truly spectacular.

Very tall flowers

Not all flowers were this tall, but you can see that there were some beds that stood 2 - 3 feet tall! You can also kind of get the sense of the crowds. The lines at the food carts were long, but the lines for the loos were even longer - up to a 20 minute wait! And if you decided you didn't have to go each time you saw a long line, you eventually ended up waiting in line praying you can hold it long enough to get to a stall. Not saying' that happened to me, but...

Very tiny flowers

I had an amazing Dutch hot dog at one of the stalls. It was paired with some sort of cheesy mustard that came out of a packet much like ketchup and mustard do in the states. I couldn't get the packet to fully open, so I had one of Regine's cousins (who is Dutch and lives in Holland - they came out and spent the day with us) open it for me. She proceeded to squirt the entirety of the packet onto my sausage. I tried to stop her half-way as I wasn't sure I'd like the sauce, but she said, "No, you will like it!" And gosh darn it, she was right! Reg's husband Brian liked the sauce so much he bought a bottle of the stuff at the local store before we flew home! 

Van Gogh in flower form

There was a long line to get onto the viewing platform to see the Van Gogh. Once we arrived on the platform, we took a quick handful of pictures, then got down to keep the line moving along. 

Even more flowers

There was such a varieties of flowers! 

Interesting bell-shaped flowers

I attempted a selfie, but I have determined that my arm simply isn't long enough to get my big head and the background in at the same time. This photo turned out okay, but the yellow flowers went on a lot farther… I couldn't get my chin and the rest of the landscape into the same picture! 

Selfie amongst the flowers

Floral close-up

Flowers, flowers, flowers

There were a number of indoor exhibitions, but we really didn't stay in any of them for too long due to the crowds. I liked the flower arrangement below, and had Reg take a quick photo of me. (Again, not so good with the selfie-taking!) 

An interesting art installation

The outdoor arrangements were really interesting as well. Sometimes a riot of color and size, other times a large bed of one type of flower. Very pretty, all of them.  

More of the really tall flowers

More bell shaped flowers

At one edge of the flower garden (which was acres and acres in size) sat a beautiful, working windmill. Brian and I even went up to the top to see the flowers from up high. A few photos from the top of the windmill will be in my next post. 

Windmill! 

And last, but not least, I stole one of Reg's photos. From the top is Brian (Reg's husband), Lucas (Reg's nephew), and me, all playing photographer! 

Brian, Lucas, and I getting our paparazzi on

An Afternoon in Amsterdam

We arrived in Holland so early that first day, that even after spending several hours walking around the suburb our hotel was located, we still had plenty of time to take the train into Amsterdam for a good chunk of the afternoon. 

Canal boat

After a quick coffee stop for caffeine (did I mention we all left VERY early that morning), we hopped on a canal boat tour. Time well spent! Unfortunately, the window at my seat wouldn't open, so there is a bit of glare in some of these photos. 

Canal

Every where you looked, the views were amazing! The architecture, boats, foliage, everything was just like out of a storybook. There was even a tall ship, but alas, it was on the other side of the boat and I only got a photo through out longboat's "sun roof.

Tall ship as seen through boat's roof

There were so many bridges. They seemed so low, but our boat was built to go through them easily. They warned us at the beginning of the tour, though, that it would be good not to stand up through the sun roof due to the low bridges. 

Canal bridge

Bridge after bridge after bridge

Some of these pictures are of specific things they were announcing, but after a while I forget what photo was of what. I'll just have to enjoy the photos as is. 

Yet another canal 

There were a lot of skinny, tilted buildings with dates on them dating as far back as the 1600s. If you look at the top of the two skinny buildings below, you may notice the arm and hook protruding off the building, just above the top window. Those hooks have been used since the build of the houses to move supplies and furniture into the upper stories of the buildings. 

And if you look really closely, each building is within inches of each other, but aren't actually attached! 

Tiny, wonky houses all in a row

After our boat tour, we started walking towards the Van Gogh museum. Along the way, we avoided the red light district, but still saw a brothel with a neglige-wearing working woman lazily dancing in the front picture window, looking bored out of her mind. We saw a few coffee shops that didn't sell coffee but had plenty of patrons (if you know what I mean!), pubs, shops, etc. We also saw a beautiful horse drawn carriage. 

Horsies

We walked and walked and walked for at least 20 minutes towards the Van Gogh museum and realized it was close to 6:00 and we still had at least 10 minutes to walk before arriving at the museum. We were all running out of steam, so we decided to turn around and head back toward the train station in search of dinner.  

View from a bridge

We found a great spot for a beer, but eventually made our way back to Leiden for dinner. Once back near our hotel it was after 8:00 and I was so tired. Like, really, really tired. I opted out of dinner and headed up to my room to call it a night. I wan't hungry and wanted to be well rested for the next day's adventure.

View from another bridge

It was a great first day, and I looked forward to the coming days! I was a little bummed we didn't get to either the Anne Frank house or the Van Gogh museum, but the friends I was with had either been there or, in the case of the Anne Frank house, didn't want to get majorly bummed out. I figure I may be able to talk Bill into going back for a weekend spent just in Amsterdam :-) 

Church tower

To The Netherlands!!

Some friends were heading to Holland for the Spring flower show and I decided to tag along for the ride. Bill didn't have much desire to see the tulip fields, so he waved me goodbye at the airport before heading off to work.

Lots of bikes! 

After a short, but early (VERY early) flight and an almost as short train ride, we arrived in Leiden, a suburb of Amsterdam and our home away from home for the next few nights. I immediately noticed all of the bikes - tons of them - parked two and three bikes high outside of the train station. We would see far more bikes before the weekend was through. They're old-timey one to three speed granny bikes and they were glorious. Except, of course, when you almost get run over by one. Not saying that happened, but...

The first of many windmills

We also spotted our first of many windmills as we walked around Leiden, waiting to connect with the rest of our group who had taken various routes to get there. 

Canal in Leiden

Leiden was beautiful! Although not Amsterdam, it had gorgeous canals, lots of wee boats, and a terrific little cheese shop that helped stave off our hunger. 

CHEESE!!!

We even found a random totem pole. Near the totem pole was a cast iron art installation that included, among other things, a coffee pot, pair of shoes, dog poo, and a dildo. Seriously.   

Because when you think of Holland, you think of totem poles...?

It was a beautiful afternoon and around 1:00 all of the small canal-front cafes were starting to open for the Friday night festivities. 

Canal front cafe

We did not realize it until we arrived, but it was a 3-day weekend in Holland. Monday was King's Day, which we gathered is a national holiday similar to our 4th of July. There were lots more people out and about all weekend and town squares were getting ready for concerts, carnivals, and the like. Most of which was to take place on Monday, the day we were flying back home. Oh well, I still had quite a few tasty beers and food items. 

Mmmm beer!

Unfortunately, I was too full when we stumbled upon an oliebollen stand, but that didn't stop the others! The smell of fried dough and powdered sugar was as intoxicating as it was nauseating!

Brian eating oliebollen (fried donuts with powdered sugar)

Reg trying the oliebollen

All in all, a great start to our trip! 

Surprise Concert: Sting + Paul Simon

The same weekend Bill and I attended the BBC Good Food Show, I got a text from one of my friends. The text said, 'Hi! I have an extra ticket to Monday night's Sting + Paul Simon concert in Manchester. Want to go with me?' I didn't even hesitate before texting back, 'Yes!' 

Duh! Who wouldn't want to go to that show?!

Seventh row seats!!

I booked us dinner at a Cuban-inspired restaurant in Manchester I had found online that ended up being psudo-hispanic tapas. It wasn't exactly what I had envisioned, but it worked, and we were within walking distance to the concert arena. We had downed a pitcher of sangria when we realized we had to pay the tab and head out if we didn't want to miss anything. It's a good thing we left the restaurant when we did, because there was no opening act and we almost missed the first song!  

And a seated audience

We followed the signs as best we could and found our seats in section 103 in the bleachers, but someone was already sitting in them! The first song had already started as we realized we were supposed to be on the floor, not up in the bleachers, D'oh! We excused our way back out of the row and found an escort to help poor, tipsy us. We got walked down to the floor, closer and closer and closer, until we found our seats -- in ROW 7!! My friend's husband purchased the tickets but had to go out of town on business at the last minute; she did not realize how awesome the seats were and we were both so excited! 

From the nearby jumbotron

The other thing that was really interesting was that the majority of the audience remained seated for the whole concert; well, all the way up to the final encore of Cecilia and Every Breath You Take. What a great thing for a short girl — a seated audience so I could see! 

Such close seats!

What a blast! Sting was good, but Paul Simon rocked the house! Everyone finally got up and boogied during You Can Call me Al and stayed standing as Sting returned to the stage as they sang the final two songs together. 

                                    

Concerts are always fun, but surprise concerts are the BEST!

BBC Cooking Celebrities, Live!

I received an email about a month ago from the local conference center announcing that was the BBC's Spring Good Food Show was coming to town.  I clicked the link and there were still tickets for the food hall + demonstration show, and without even thinking twice, I clicked the Buy Now button. 

The show's headliners were Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, judges on the massively popular show, The Great British Bake-Off. They recently aired the last season of Bake-Off on PBS back in the states. I think in the states it's called the British Baking Show or some such thing. 

Live cooking demo with Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood

I could only get tickets to the 9;30am demo show as the rest of the shows only had nosebleed seats left. I took a few photos with my phone, however the lights were so bright that all I got photo-wise was the white glow of lights. However, if you look closely, you can see the black shirt with arms outstretched on the left side, that's Paul Hollywood making his Bakewell tart. Mary is standing to his left, in a white shirt, but she pretty much disappears into the photo. You can easily make out the jeans-wearing camera man smack dab in the middle of the stage. After a few photo attempts, I put down my phone and enjoyed the demo. 

After the cooking demo, Bill and I walked around the conference hall, purchasing foodstuffs (cheese! ricotta-filled Italian doughnuts!! whiskey!!!) and a few unnecessary - but seemed necessary at the time - cooking gadgets (oven bottom liner and a pastry piping bag). We walked home and had lunch together, before I walked back to try to get a seat for the Mary Berry interview. I arrived 30 minutes early and got a spot in the standing-room only fringes. 

Mary Berry, a sweeter, older version of Martha Stewart 

Mary's 30-minute interview was delightful! She is adorable, sweet, but very practicle. She answered as many questions from the crowd as possible and charmed everyone. 

After the Mary Berry interview there was a short break, but I stuck around, got an actual seat, and watched the interview with the Hairy Bikers. I have never watched their cooking show, but it sounds like they're kind of like Anthony Bourdain in that they're chefs but their show features them not only cooking, but also travelling the world to experience other culture's food.  

The Hairy Bikers

They were as boisterous and off-color as much as Mary was sweet and delicate. I'll have to keep my eyes open for their show on TV and record it — I am sure they're a hoot on the show!

Neat Neolithic Stuff: Stonehenge, Avebury Henge, and the Uffington Horse

One of my England bucket list items has been to see Stonehenge. Since it was only a 40-minute drive from the small village of Highclere where we spent the weekend, we made the trek. 

I figured it was Easter Sunday morning, who would go to Stonehenge on Easter Sunday? Sadly, thousands of  other tourists thought the same thing. Although I must admit, the way the walk around Stonehenge is set up, you  get good photographs of the neolithic monoliths and thankfully the hoards of selfie-stick wielding tourists remain out of shot. 

Barrow

After waiting in a Disneyland-style line at the car park, we picked up our pre-purchased entrance tickets and made our way to the bus. We opted to exit the bus half-way to Stonehenge (only about a half mile) to walk through the fields the rest of the way. 

Along the way we spotted several of the ancient barrows, large burial mounds which date back to as far as 2300BC. The older, oblong-shaped Neolithic barrows were group burial sites, whereas the smaller, round Bronze age (circa 2100BC − 1500BC) barrows were the burial mounds of individuals. Gotta admit, it's a bit weird walking a path up and over an ancient burial mound. Good thing there wasn't a TV nearby, I don't want to get sucked into the otherworld like Poltergeist's Carole-Ann!!  

Stonehenge

The stones are bluestones and their origins have been traced back to Wales. How the Celtic people moved them all the way from Wales to their current location 4,000+ years ago, I have no idea. There are many theories as to what the structure was used for and why it was built, but I like the mystery of it all, myself. 

Stonehenge

The stones that are still standing are quite large and impressive. I can only imagine how it looked and how such a formidable structure would elicit awe in all who saw it when in its heyday. 

I'm really there!

I only wished we were able to view Stonehenge without the screaming hoards all around us. It really distracted from the experience. I grew up reading celtic-inspired fantasy novels and had such an image in my head of how magical and mystical it would be to actually see Stonehenge with my own eyes. Unfortunately the actual experience included queues, ticket takers barking at you to get in line, cranky tourists bumping into me trying to get a better view, and the ubiquitous exit through the gift shop. 

As seen from afar

After visiting Stonehenge we drove another 40 minutes to see a lesser-known henge located in the village of Avebury. This henge is larger in scope, several concentric circles of varying sized stones, but not as compact as Stonehenge, nor are any capstones (if there were any) still in existence. 

Avebury Henge

We had ourselves a little car picnic of cheese and crackers, then set off to hike around the village to check out Avebury Henge. It was a beautiful day and all the visitors seemed to be locals enjoying a nice day out — a far cry from the maddening crowd at Stonehenge! 

Stones of Avebury

The historians suggest this henge was also built during the late Neolithic period, dating back to about 2600BC. The stones are very large and set fairly far away from each other. You could get right up to the stones here, even touch and/or climb onto them. And for all you Outlander fans, I didn't fall through a vortex of time and find myself in medieval Scotland! 

Large stones of Avebury

Even more Avebury stones

We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon at Avebury and highly recommend it. Yes, if you come to England, see Stonehenge, but don't miss Avebury either! 

After a last night at our little pub in Highclere, we headed back North to our Yorkshire home. But we took one last detour to see another ancient item, the Uffington White Horse. 

Uffington Horse - NOT MY PHOTO

The horse was probably built either in the late Bronze age (1000–700 BC) or early Iron Age (800 BC–AD 100) and is assumed to be tribal symbol. I had hoped we would get a view like the picture above, but apparently that view can only be seen by air. Hmmm.... could they have been helped by ALIENS!?!? :-) 

Uffington Horse

We hiked up and down and all over that G-D hill, but the pictures above and below are the best views we were able to see. 

Can you kinda, sorta see it? 

When we got home I did a bit of research on the White Horse. Apparently, there is medieval tale about the horse. It is said to be the site where St. George, England's patron saint, famously slew the dragon and saved England. The dragon's blood poisoned the ground and left a white chalk scar for all to see.Hmmm... I'm liking my alien story better! :-)