Holland The Keukenhof Gardens

H olland is the land of            look. You know. The one that says  tulips. When it comes to        I have bad news, but am going to   seeing tulips, no place in      try to make it sound like good     the world outdoes the Keukenhof       news. The powers that be wanted    Gardens.                              to go to the word famous                                                 Keukenhof Gardens.                 Keukenhof Gardens                                                                                              This was disappointing for two     The Keukenhof Gardens are located     reasons. First, I had never heard  to the southwest of Amsterdam. I      of the "famous" Kuekenhof          know this because I was visiting      Gardens, thus bringing into doubt  Amsterdam with an old friend and      the claim in my mind. Second, the  his wife. He and I had talked         weighing of the scales of justice  about taking the tour at the          were producing results decidedly   Heineken Brewery for days.            in favor of a location that        Unfortunately, we only had two        encompassed the word "beer"        days in Amsterdam and had missed      versus one that highlighted        the tour on the first day. This       "gardens." For the love of God,    was due to his wife having wet        we were in Amsterdam!              hair because of a blow drier,                                            which meant we had to sit around      An argument ensued and, of         until nature ran its course. This     course, I lost. Off we went for a  was not a woman willing to rough      day in the gardens. Oh, fun.       it.                                                                                                            As happens more often than not, I  I arose on the second morning         was wrong in my assumptions. In a  with visions of beer mugs in my       one in a million occurrence,       mind. I knew that I was in            "gardens" definitely outweighed    trouble as soon as he walked          the "beer" option. The Keukenhof   through the door. He had that         Gardens definitely deserve the     fame moniker, even if you've          strolling. It is like standing in  never heard of them.                  the middle of a landscape                                                painting. The place is so big,     Keukenhof is perhaps the biggest      you can rent bikes to put around   collection of flowers I have ever     the grounds. To this end, the      seen. Located on 70 acres outside     best time to go is in April when   of the town of Lisse, the gardens     everything is in bloom.            are surreal. There are over 7                                            MILLION flowers on the grounds        Against all my inherent male       with Tulips in full display. The      attributes, I have to admit        location was previously the home      visiting the gardens outdid        of a castle and accompanying          anything the Heineken Brewery      lands, which gives you an idea of     could offer. I also felt a heck    the layout. Essentially, you pay      of a lot better the next morning!  $20 to enter and just start            About the Author: Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com - makers of writing journals. Travel journals are great travel accessories and travel gifts for student travel, family vacations and adventure travel. Visit http://www.nomadjournaltrips.com for more travel articles, travelogues and travel stories. Source: www.isnare.com