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