A little history: In the 15th century, the land where Keukenhof now stands was owned by Jacoba van Beieren, Countess of Holland. This area was used for hunting, but also to collect herbs for the castle's kitchen and was thusly named, Keukenhof, or "kitchen garden". In 1949 a group of bulb growers decided to present a Spring flower exhibit here and it has been there every year since.
A couple interesting facts and then I'll just bombard you with tons of pictures (if you click on the pictures individually, a bigger version will open & you can be even more mesmerized):
- In the last 58 years, more than 42 million people have visited Keukenhof
- There are 4.5 million tulips in 100 varieties
- 7 million flower bulbs are planted by hand in the park
- There are more than 2500 trees in 87 varieties
Eric made fun of me for how many pictures I took, but I just couldn't help it! Everything was so beautiful and colorful. I think what he found the most amusing (or annoying) was that I kept wanting him to look at the pictures on the 2x2 camera viewing screen even thought he couldn't really see anything b/c it was so small. And I kept saying, "I mean, look at the colors!"
I find this one almost hypnotizing:
Here's my mom getting us a yummy waffel snack:
I couldn't resist.... they're so cute!
With the impending Summer Olympics, the theme for 2008 was Beijing, China. There were various different displays, but this was by far the coolest:
Even at a flower park I can still find shoe shopping. I think she needs a bigger size, what do you think?
This was the picture I thought my Dad would like the best (wink, wink, Dad):
This mill was built in 1892, and then brought to Keukenhof in 1957:
Ok, I know that was a lot of pictures of flowers, but I mean, look at those colors!!
3 comments:
Another great job...YES...the colors were unbelievable!!!! never enough flowers....mom
What can I say more...colourful, colourful and ... colourful! Hahaha.
By the way, must give you credits on your thorough understanding of the history behind each place you've visited. Bravo! Keep it up!
Yea, the pictures are mesmerizing. Would you get any of them framed for the new house? Seriously, the most photographed place in the WORLD? That is really hard to imagine - though I can't think of what would beat it - Eiffel Tower? Big Ben? Anything that Brangelina does?
I want an herb garden... but I can't even keep aloe alive......
PS- The neighbors finally turned down their music. It was SO LOUD I called the police at 11 (an hour after it's supposed to be down) and was preparing for my next call when they lowered it on their own! Ahhh.. writing about life in the ghetto as I read about life in Europe.
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