Tiptoe through the Tulips

The final day of our cruise felt like the best was saved for last. We arrived back in Amsterdam and our morning excursion was to the Kuekenhof Gardens, the world's largest flower garden. It is over 80 acres and is home to more than 7 million tulip bulbs and other flowers.

The Tulip season is very short, two months to be exact. The Keukenhof is only open during the Tulip season, this year was from March 30 - May 18th. Then the Garden closes and they wait until the fall to plant the bulbs and flowers that will grow for next year. There are over 30 different shows that run throughout the time the garden is open. We were very lucky that they didn't have a bad winter this year in Holland. We were told several times that because of the winter they had in 2013 that the ground was still frozen and the tulips didn't even bloom last year. Each of our guides during the trip said how lucky we were to be seeing such a great tulip season.

Out of the 10 days that we were on our trip, this had to be the day that it rained. We left the ship in the morning and arrived at the gardens in the rain. The tour guide were walking us through the gardens quickly so that we could get to the large indoor exhibits and out of the rain. The indoor gardens did not disappoint. 

The rain stopped and it was time to get outside and explore the beauty of the tulips and all the other amazing floral displays at the garden. 

Every year that have inspirational gardens. I stumbled across one of them called The Love Garden.

The sign at the start of the garden read:

The Love Garden is packed with love and memories. A place to remember what have have and had; a love lock on a fence; a serenade on the most romantic balcony; a hug on the Cupido bench.

Or ask the most important question, "will you marry me?"

By leaving a personal message on the red heart this garden will be filled with warmth and friendship.

You could spend a whole day (or more) at the Garden. I only had about three and a half hours. I saw as much as I could see, took as many pictures as I could to keep that memory alive for a long time to come. 

Please see the next post for more from my visit to Keukenhof