Keukenhof = Tulips!

I love tulips.

Ottawa has a Tulip Festival every year because the Dutch royal family stayed in Ottawa during WWII and the Dutch send a bunch of tulips to Ottawa as thanks each year.

Lillian's first Ottawa Tulip Festival

Sylvia's first Ottawa Tulip Festival

We took a city bus to the airport and then caught the Keukenhof shuttle from there.  The whole trip from city center took about an hour.  Keukenhof (which means kitchen garden) is only open from the end of March to mid-May.  It is the world's second biggest flower garden (the first being somewhere in Dubai).  It is worth the trip; it is absolutely stunning and very family friendly.

First a little education:

1637 marks the peak of Tulip Mania.  Bulbs were worth big money and traded like stocks.  The most popular were the red and white stripey one shown above.  Aphids spread a disease that caused them to look like that.

If you couldn't afford tulips, you could maybe afford a painting of tulips.

Tulips come from the mountains between Turkey and China.

We were here at the peak of the season and the weather was beautiful.  I took about a billion photos.  Here are a few:

A playground, a zip line, a petting zoo, several family friendly restaurants...

I am grateful.

After resting up at home a bit, we went to the Vincent van Gogh Museum. 

No photos are allowed.