When my girls were little, I bought a picture book about Dutch tulips. It laid to rest the idea that tulips originated in Holland. In fact, the flower came here some four hundred years ago, via Turkey, all the way from Kazakhstan.
So how is it that modern Holland lives and breathes tulips? That it is in fact the biggest tulip bulb exporter, trading something like 1.5 billion bulbs per year? Well, we all want Dutch tulips because we see them as the real deal. So much variety! Such beautiful blooms! Bulbs from the Netherlands seem authentic and proper. Sort of like bluebells from England and lavender from southern France. Our associations are strong and they govern our purchases. Hey, didn't Ed and I buy bulbs from a Dutch couple during the gardening expo in Madison? Okay, they weren't tulip bulbs. Those I purchased in September. And I'll bet anything that they came from the Netherlands.
It is possible to visit the tulip fields of Holland. But honestly, those ribbons of color probably look best from up above. If you want to marvel at the beauty of tulip blooms, your best bet is to go to the Keukenhof gardens outside Amsterdam. Tulip growing there is a serious affair (and they've been doing it for 75 years!). It's where I want to go today.
And once again we are lucky: we were to have rain showers. Instead, we wake up to this:
A morning at the Ambassade. A breakfast of breads and Dutch cheeses (another grand association with this country -- Edam and Gouda!).
The hotel always feels more intimate than its true size. There are 55 rooms to it these days, but they're spread out over some dozen canal houses. (I remember the days when it was concentrated to just one or two buildings.) Most are connected, which means you have to have a good sense of direction and know your twists and turns. (The buildings are not necessarily on the same level, so steps are going to be part of your passageway.)
(mirrors along the way...)
Staying in a canal-side house is a grand way to soak in the moods of this city (in the same way that staying in a hotel by the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris makes me feel connected to the more contemplative aspects of that city). How beautiful to spend a few minutes just looking outside!
(our view...)
After breakfast, Snowdrop and I take the time to read a few books about two artists -- Rembrandt and Vermeer. The Riijksmuseum has a special exhibit on Hals, but I opted to skip that and the crowds that it surely is generating. [In the same way that I opted to skip the Van Gogh Museum this time 'round. Snowdrop already knows about Van Gogh from all those Impressionist exhibitions I've dragged her to in Paris. She'll describe from memory his most famous paintings. Rembrandt and Vermeer? That's something new for her. Let's just concentrate on those for today.]
(my Vermeer-like picture of ... daily life with the girl!)
Time to walk over to the museum.
(pause along the way to watch the removal of sunken bicycles... Snowdrop wonders if the riders of these bikes got off before the bikes fell into the canals...)
The museum is pretty crowded, especially when you come to the "star attractions." Still, I do want her to see canvases like Rembrandt's Night Watch.
She's a little disturbed by the image of the seemingly frightened girl in the middle of the painting. She tells me she finds this paint box from that same time period much more interesting.
But then we come to Vermeer's Milk Maid. She knows this painting -- I have to think because her school art teacher occasionally talks up famous artists.
It becomes a Snowdrop favorite!
In the "Dutch Impressionism" wing, you can find unfamiliar artists that strike your fancy (well, my fancy!)...
... and you can also find three Van Gogh's.
We end with that. Keeping the visit to just under an hour is perfect. And stopping at a store with bunnies for brothers and cousins is also perfect!
Lunch time! The hotel suggests a couple of options and we try out the closest one -- A. Van Wees. It used to be a distillery. Now it's a pub, or perhaps a "cat bar!" Snowdrop loves cats, so this place is going to have a check in its favor. There's another benefit -- it offers a Dutch cheese fondue (for her) and Zeeland mussels (for me).
She tells me it's the best lunch ever!
And at 2:30, we head out to the Keukenhof Gardens.
Because we have so little time, I took the easy route -- I rented a car. With a driver, because frankly, I did not want to run down any of the crazy cyclists that are so much a part of the Amsterdam street scene. On the one hand, this was great. Pick up, drop off. And on the return -- pick up and take home. On the other hand, when the driver learned I was curious about the bulb production here, he suggested a circuitous route that would have us see some of the fields on the way to the gardens. 1.5 hours in stop and go traffic to get out of town and drive through Haarlem and past the fields. Guaranteed to make Snowdrop nearly car sick.
We did pause at one point and our local guy explained that in the fields, all those flowers will be hacked off and as a result, the bulbs will reproduce. These new bulbs are then hand picked, to be sold to the likes of us. Flowers that are sold for their blooms are not grown in fields, but are instead grown in Dutch greenhouses.
(three fields that were especially stunning in my opinion...)
And now we are at the gardens. This is not a small scale production. The gardens are huge and they do not lack people, even though the website tells me that we are at the "getting crowded" stage of the game (as opposed to "crowded!" or "insanely crowded!").
The thing to remember is that... they... are... beautiful.
Breathtakingly beautiful.
And if you move around with care, you can find quiet corners. Photographable corners.
Snowdrop takes on a leadership position here. Equipped with a map, she leads us to the highlights. And her favorite choices.
I'm resisting posting an overload of photos. Truly, these are just my very favorites!
Her favorites as well!
There is a kids' playground and the girl is thrilled with that. Five times on the zipline, several on the squiggly slide, a few tries at the monkey bars.
But let me end with this one, where the colors are beyond beautiful.
And that rain that was supposed to wet this day for us? Nope, not a drop.
We drive back the quick way. And still, we pass a field, or two...
And now it's evening. Our last dinner in Europe. I booked it at Casa di David, which, too has such fine memories -- I ate here with my daughters when they were... Snowdrop's age!
And again we have a piece of luck. The place is packed. We're assigned a table right in the thick of a traffic pattern. And suddenly, someone waves a magic wand and a table by the window opens for us. We move to it, gratefully.
Snowdrop is at that edge, where one side spells joy and the other -- a readiness to head home. Ask her is she wants vacation to be over and she'll say no! Ask her if she misses home and she'll say yes! This is when she loves texting with mommy.
We do have a lovely view out onto the lights around the canal. I give myself a few minutes to think about being here, about the joys of travel, about the challenges as well. We've done well this past week! I am so happy about that!
We walk back, we eat our dessert chocolates, we turn out the lights. Tomorrow is a big-time travel day. Tonight -- we're still one foot in the tulip fields, with one eye toward the twinkling lights reflected in the waters of the canal outside.
with so much love...
