Back to Amsterdam, March 25th

Before you all jump at the chance to comment on the smirk on my face I have to tell you about the triple wammie thats going on right now. First we had to have our luggage outside the door of our cabins at 8am this morning. Second, this night was Holland's 'Day Light Savings'... oh yes - a second time for us this year! Third, we barely squeezed in a breakfast this morning before boarding our bus and getting dropped off in the FREEZING COLD of Keukenhof Gardens.

But why should I complain! We are in the beautiful KEUKENHOF GARDENS at the time of the Tulip Festival! (Well close enough... we are a little early.) But still! Leslie is in the cute green jacket: she is Brent's Viking Cruise Ship Rep. We had a lot of fun with her throughout the week... including dragging her through all the chocolate shops with us in Belgium (when she gave up chocolate for Lent!) She still loves me though!

It was so cold outside we finally wised up and sat in a cafe for half an hour eating apple pie and hot chocolate with our friends Aida and Joe. Then we meandered outside to find another indoor gift shop (- yeah!) And here's where half of our 500+ photos were taken. We had a blast!

Its Sock-Monkey-Trees... how ingenious! I want one! (Of course!)

Brent is tired of me taking shots of him so now I'm the sucker!

I have about 50 more pictures that look like this... so many 'creative' ideas in here. Brent finally said "ok, Martha! We need to go now!" Oh, I was having so much fun!

The sun has almost burned off all the fog and cold, but we were lucky to find one more greenhouse that was ten degrees warmer inside than it was out. And it was beautiful in here! (Joe took our photo!) I forgot to put in one of them...I will email them!

More than 7 million bulbs are planted each year in Keukenhof. They showcased a variety of crocuses, hyacinths, daffodils and of course tulips.  Some of the outside bulbs hadn't flowered yet, but inside the greenhouse everything was in bloom. It was breathtaking!

Ha! I finally got on the other side of the camera!  There was such a variety of flowers... wish you could of been here! We were tempted to buy some bulbs until they showed us all the hoops we had to jump thru to bring them back to the states. No thanks.

It had finally warmed up outside and we tried to be cute and pretend Brent was holding the windmill... maybe it wasn't our day. But we were able to climb inside the windmill and look around. They are amazing structures!

Yes, we had a little bit of fun while we were here!

Keukenhof has many different gardens, winding paths, picturesque bridges, placid ponds, and bubbling fountains.  All these were surrounded by a kaleidoscopic floral exuberance that is unique to only Holland. (And if you think I am taking that right out of the tour guide you would have guessed correctly!)

About 1:00 we all jumped on bikes and spent an hour riding through the outer fields. This isn't the best pictures, but a lot of the fields were in full bloom. Pretty spectocular! -(trying to add more vowels!)

About 50 others from the cruise ship joined us for this bike tour. We were a little intimdating  of a crowd when we had to pass through intersections. Our fearless leaders just stopped traffic for us, making the cars wait. We felt so special!

We ate lunch at a farm house where I tried to talk to two little girls who lived here. All they could understand was when I asked what their names were. I tried to ask how old they were but the language gap closed at that point. They were adorable kids too!

It couldn't have been a more beautiful day! Perfect weather for a day at the park!

Our bags were waiting for us in our hotel room and we took advantage of a couple free hours to find the Anne Frank house.  That was a treat! Very sombering. For dinner we were escorted to the Koepelkerk, one of Amsterdam's landmark buildings, right across the street from our hotel.

We listened to a live jazz band as we ate another fabulous meal. I could not believe how amazing the food and entertainment was on this trip. Kudos to Viking River Cruises! And thank you!