Weekend Recap: Visiting the Netherlands

We made it back from the Netherlands!  And boy did we see and SMELL a lot of flowers!!  There were indeed 7 MILLION flowers for us to see and smell (I think Britta alone smelled 100:) at Kuekenhof!!  Though the weather was far from ideal for this type of trip, the lovely fragrances and radiant colors of the flowers seemed to alleviate some of our chills!! 

On Friday, Matt literally walked in the door at 1:00PM from his flight back from the USA and we were out of the door for the Netherlands by 1:30PM!  After a 5½ hour drive, we made it to the beautiful city of Haarlem!  On Saturday, we joined up with another family from our town and visited the well-known Keukenhof garden.  Around 3:30PM, we headed to the 65^th annual Bulbflower Parade.  The parade followed a forty kilometers route from Noordwijk to Haarlem.  We viewed the parade outside the Kuekenhof gates.  This parade is called the  “Face of Spring” for very good reason and is the most famous parade in the Netherlands. The procession consists of about twenty floats and more than thirty vehicles all covered with flowers and decorated lavishly.  Musical groups lead the procession along the length of the “Keukenhof Corso Boulevard.”  Thankfully, around 3:30PM we started to finally see blue skies- perfect for the parade!  After the parade, many people left so we could enjoy the park with less people, and were able to better admire all of the flowers (tulips, daffodils and hyacinths).  We did not leave Kuekenhof until 7PM; when leaving Matt said, “would you ever have guessed we would stay at a garden for 9 hours!?”  Time flies when having fun:)!

Before we headed back to Germany today, we visited downtown Haarlem where many of the floats were on display.  It was nice seeing the floats up close; we were able to admire their beauty and detail up close.  Also, downtown Haarlem was very charming. The girls had a BLAST enjoying one of the carnival rides set up for the market square.  It was another great trip- especially since it was shared with some friends.  

Elle smelling the flowers

Elle, Taryn and Britta smelling the flowers

Britta smelling the flowers

Elle, Taryn and Leena

Elle and Taryn having a blast dancing in one of the main pedestrian areas

Elle and Taryn decided to let their sisters join in:)

The parade was SO PACKED with people, it was hard to really see a lot of the floats and/or take pictures of them- you can see all of the cameras up in the air, hoping for a good shot:).  Luckily, the three oldest girls had front row seats thanks to some kind people.

The girls (sans Leena) 

Britta smelling yet more flowers

Britta's idea to stand in the middle of the trees for a picture:)

Outside of Keukenhof there were multiple fields filled with rows & rows of flowers

Downtown Haarlem had various rides for children.  Elle & Britta rode the swings... they both LOVED it.  Britta had an absolute BLAST!!  Elle would often turn around and look at Britta... and they would just laugh and laugh.  It was almost the best part of the trip:)