Keukenhof

Tuesday May 5 - We walked to a bus we had prearranged to take us to Kuekenhof. It turned out to be a bus with lots of stops along the way on its way to Schiphol airport where we had to transfer to a different bus that would take us to Kuekenhof. I had hoped that when we got to the airport, where we could transfer to the Kuekenhof shuttle, we would have time to take the 198 bus to the flower auction before going to Kuekenhof. As it turned out, by the time we got to the train station we would have just made it to the very end of the auction so decided against it for today. Candy and Eric were going there on their tour with Edward Jones. If we found out it was not to be missed, we still had several days to arrange it. We found the shuttle and had a nice bus ride through the country to the park. We were early and the park was very uncrowded. We had a leisurely stroll. At first I said no pictures, then a few and then all hell broke loose. The park is beautiful, so many colors and varieties and plantings! Van Gough was the theme and they had a planting to copy one of his self-portraits. He had done so many self-portraits to work on different styles as he was learning his own style. (I learned this at the Van Gough Museum). They had a selfie area with several different mirrors so you could take your picture and get a lot of self-portraits. There was a Japanese garden with flowing water and serenity. There were the gardens with sculptures. We wondered around for an hour or more, then we saw the orchid pavilion, before stopping for lunch. We had a great lunch in the gardens and resumed our stroll. About an hour later, we were almost done and the sky darkened. We picked up our pace, and then thunder and lightning started. We were still okay and just a bit more to do! Hail, huge hail and then the deluge! We ran to another Pavilion and took shelter. In this Pavilion were arches with vases attached. They had hundreds of them filled with Star Magnolias. The smell was intoxicating! I am sure they sold a lot of those arches because of the smell alone! But we had had enough of the crowed pavilion and decided to make a run for it. We got to the bus half drenched! Our thighs were soaked but otherwise OK. The bus rides back were uneventful. We just felt glad to be out of the rain!

After a bite back at the apartment we decided to go tram hopping again. This time we went south to Station Zuid again, but by and different route #24. We went by the Olympic stadium built in 1929, to Amselweenseweg. Then we walked about a mile to Station RAI, the convention center. It was nice to get away from the crowds. We came back to Centraal Station via tram line #4. On the way we went by the Albert Crypt Market. I wanted to go there to try fresh Stroopwafels. We had bought some at a bakery but they were only so-so. They are small flat waffles with caramel filling. Another walk from the Centraal Station, this would be one of the last. We have now discovered how to transfer more easily to the tram line #3 which comes within 4-5 blocks of our apartment.