Recently we took a trip to The Netherlands, more specifically Holland. I'm embarrassed to admit that I expected to see tulips and windmills the minute we crossed the border. I really didn't know that much about this surprisingly beautiful country as I have never really studied about it. In all honesty I thought Holland was the name of the country, not a region within the country. Now that I have admitted my naivete`, I'll continue...
As we crossed the border into The Netherlands I was instantly struck by the fields of yellow, not tulips but rapeseed which is the source of canola oil. I didn't actually see a single tulip until we had reached our destination of Lisse which is actually in Holland. Our first evening there we drove out to the tulip fields. The only word to describe this experience is breathtaking!
I was surprised to learn that when growing tulips, the growers let the tulips get to this stage of blooming and then go through and cut the bloom off the top. This strengthens the bulb. It seems a shame but apparently its a necessity. Then the tulip bulbs will be harvested in August and separated with the largest bulbs packaged for sale all over the world and the smaller bulbs replanted. The Netherlands ship out over 9 million bulbs every year.
Doug asked me which color was my favorite...
The white was really beautiful...
On our way back to our hostel, we passed by this amazing thatched roof home. What an art!
The sign on this restaurant made us laugh! I'm not sure we've ever seen abbreviations on a sign like this before! We ended up eating here later on, thinking that Chinese food would be a safe bet for kids who don't always appreciate foreign cuisine. We were wrong, none of us liked the food. I'm not sure I've ever had Chinese food with tomato sauce before!
The tulip fields are SO GORGEOUS! Makes you want to dance around in them naked. (Um...did I just say that?) Why, yes. Yes I did.
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