Tulip's... second lip

Having seen the previous “lip” of tulip growing and harvesting, we spent our last day in the Netherlands looking at the finished product so to speak, by visiting a world famous tulip garden

As it was the day before our departure, we were moored back in Amsterdam with all the big city trappings,

and even were parked across from one of Mr. Oliver’s venues

So near, yet so far

After the usual breakfast we boarded our coach(es) for a trip to the Keukenhof Gardens.  Once we left the city we began to see the now familiar vibrant strips of color

And upon arriving at the gardens joined the community of coaches, which are as numerous as the riverboats..

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After a short(ish) hike we arrived at the garden’s Hoofdingang (Main Entrance)

Once inside, our guide gave us a little overview of the garden, what is where, and what to expect and be sure to see

One of MFO’s and my first stops was a pavilion which contained (toilets and) some flower vendors as well as quite a large number of crafters (who did not want their works photographed)

We browsed around for a while and then headed out to the grounds. Fortunately there is so much area within the gardens, that it more or less easily swallows a huge number of guests, of which there were (bad English for Lots of People).  Once outside we could breathe a little easier and marvel at the flowers that seemed to stretch forever

You might notice there were still hyacinths as well as the tulips, with little islands as well as those long beds

Quick!   Where is MFO???  LOVE that yellow jacket

But nothing could surpass the variety and vibrancy of the tulips

Of course such beauty brings out all the more serious camera folks

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The main display hall within the gardens was preparing an exhibit honoring one of the more famous artists from these parts

And they even created a “living” portrait outside

Which isn’t bad with a little imagination.  Upon departing, we passed through the food court where they had a calliope playing

It really is an amazing place, open only shortly every year, but worth a visit... you can find more about the garden's and the dates on the thier web site.

People enjoy themselves however they enjoy themselves, so who am i to judge.  But, we were amused by a couple attached to a large group from (I guessed Japan).  They were young, maybe mid twenties (?) and perhaps newlyweds. Who knows.   Anyway the had a "selfie stick" with a phone attached, and all they did was go from place to place taking pictures of themselves.  No time to smell the roses, so to speak, just stand in front of a bed or garden feature, hold the selfie, grin, snap the shot, off to the next.  Maybe when they return home they can enjoy the flowers if able to see behind them.  As i said....

We returned to the ship for our lunch, and after that MFO and I went on the “Diamond Factory Tour” to one of the more famous diamond merchants of Amsterdam, the Gassan Diamond works.  The “tour” consisted of watching some men hunched over wheels working on the stones, and then we were ushered into a smaller room where we were shown some jewelry for sale.  Don’t much begrudge them much, was kind of fun.  No two carat stones sold...

Maybe I mentioned this here before or perhaps on Face Book, but that evening (our last abroad) was the one evening I had made a reservation for dinner off ship for us, but events, late shuttles, fears of midnight packing, and gathering fatigue led me to cancel somewhat disappointed but was for the best..

Even though this was our last day on the trip, it won’t be the last report.  Couple of things worth passing along yet..

DFD

One Lip of Two Lips

Isn't there a limerick someplace about two lips and a farmer’s daughter?  Think so, but in this case we’re talking about the botanical flower, the Tulip…It dawns upon me that we’ve done a lot of touring on the “Tulips and Windmills” trip and haven’t really done much the former.  So to remedy that, this will be the first of two editions covering the Tulip.

As usual, the feeder comes into these things with his often wrong preconceived notions.   One was that, yeah, yeah, we’ve all seen tulips growing in the beds, kind of a plain flower atop a long stem that doesn’t last very long in the spring.  Well, after this trip the light has dawned on me that what we see is a pale imitation of the “real thing”.   This edition will cover kind of the nuts and bolts of the flower and tomorrow (?) we can see what they do when exhibited properly.

So, we started our day with a morning tour of the town of Hoorn, our northernmost point of the trip.  It was there that we had one of the most enjoyable experiences of the trip (tease tease).  So after lunch back aboard the Alsvin, we embarked for a tulip farm near the town of Wieringermeer.  On the way, we stopped at another farm which produced quite a different “crop”:  potatoes and electricity.  With Holland being on the western edge of the North Sea, there is always (usually) a brisk wind off the ocean.  The Dutch are increasingly taking advantage of that and “wind farms” are sprouting up all over the place, festooning the landscape with modern versions of the windmills, now called wind turbines.

We stopped at a charming little farm

And the farmer’s wife (not daughter) gave us a little talk on wind power (with a power point presentation, mind you) about the physics and economics involved

Kind of like solar panels, you invest in the equipment and then sell the electricity and eventually get your money back.   Eventually.  Good thing they were on the younger side.  Very pleasant folks.. After the talk,we went out to the turbine - shown behind a familiar green product used in their other “crop”.

You see these things on the horizon, and they don’t look so big, but CLOSE UP!

And note the watermark where sea level is – gotta love those dijken!!

We did get a brief look at their storehouse of the “other”crop

Nice folks… So after leaving there we boarded the coach and headed for the tulip farm and pretty soon began to see lovely strips of color

And soon arrived at

(Kwekerij translates to Nursery)

We were conducted into a little room in one of the buildings and served sweets and coffee along with eye popping vases of their tulips

The lady gave us an overview of tulips and their various forms

Turns out there are two markets for "tulips", cut flowers, and the sale of bulbs.  Most of the cut flowers are raised in green houses, and the fields we see are for producing bulbs, which I sort of gathered is the larger share of the market.  Kind of an interesting aside was the procedure for the auctioning of the cut flowers, kind of the reverse of what we’re used to.  They start with a high price, and then go down, and you jump in when you want.  Because of the limited life of the cut flowers, this procedure shortens the length of time it takes for the sale by not having a bidding war.  But, their main product is the bulbs.

We left the room and went out to the “fields” of stunning flowers

She went over the process of growing and harvesting the bulbs.  Because what they want is under the soil, getting the bulbs out without damaging them is a challenge.  They grow best in clay soil (common in the Northern Netherlands) so it isn’t easy.  But some resourceful engineer (?) came up with the idea of planting the bulbs on top of netting, which is usually done in October, and then covered with more soil.  She showed us some of the nets.

When the flowers are in bloom in April (as are the tourists) they are evaluated as to quality by a (I am not making this up) Bloembollenkeuringsdienst! Who also looks for “sick” plants and those not true to type because of a mutation or virus.  They also employ workers who walk the fields with something like “Roundup” and spray any “bad” plant.  

Some we saw had for instance, red edges on a white flower… zaaap!  However, most are just lovely

And then, and then, remembering it is a business, once the tulips have passed inspection a big machine comes along and CUTS OFF all those beautiful blooms.  See those green strips in the “coach window” picture above?  Cut off.  The reason is that the plant then diverts all its energy into developing a good bulb.  Kind of a sad thing, really.  Then some time in June, another machine comes along and “takes up” the nets that formed the bulb sandwich, the soil is shaken off, the bulbs washed and dried, an Voila! You have bulbs for sale.  Quite the business.  If you want more details you can click on over to their web site.  She said there is a place that sells their bulbs in Virginia, which I didn't write down.

All in all a very interesting day, and what a privilege to be around such beauty, at least for a while

So back on the coach, back to the boat, and

DFD

A little diversion..

Taking a quick break from Netherlands, i thought you Feeder Reeders might enjoy something completely different, so here's a piece i wrote for the Tourism folk (embellished a bit here and there)..

One of the really unique things about our Mother County of Maryland (aka St. Mary’s) is that we have a large population of Amish and Mennonite families.  It isn’t my job to go into the history of these folks, but reports are that they began moving here (mostly from Pennsylvania) in the ‘40’s and were able to buy lands that were depleted by intense tobacco farming.  They maintain a lifestyle that is unique and is kind of a world apart from (most of) ours.  We sort of know they’re here, but generally don’t get much of a chance to interact with them.  That changed a bit for me last week.  Our Department of Aging (which we all do, some of us have been at it longer than others) has what they call a “Learning is Forever” program.  They offer a variety of tours, both locally (the Naval Air Station) as well as trips “up the road” to such places as Monticello, the National Colonial Farm, Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.  One of their most popular outings is a daylong “tour” of local Amish and Mennonite businesses and farms.  If you want to go (limited to 14 people) you have to remain alert and sign up (early in) the day they open registration.  We did that, and took the tour recently.  It really was a fascinating day. Visiting some 15 places, although the resource list we received had about 30 listed.

Those of you who drive around the Leonardtown area (and rural roads further north) are used to seeing these kinds of signs in front of a plain farm advertising various services and products, which we recognize as "Amish" 

There are a few more familiar places most of us have visited.

Anyway some of those smaller less familiar places usually have a long driveway leading to the farm and house.

I have always found them to be intimidating and hence haven't adventured past the road, which we did in our little STS type bus. Besides utilitarian things like tack and engine repair, many offer crafts, and if they do, there might be a separate little building for that purpose.

where they display their work..

and this place had a avian pet watching over things

Some have Antiques

Or maybe wooden crafts or furniture

We visited two really neat grocery stores which i didn't get any photos from, but they contained an amazing array of flours, flavorings, spices, dried foods (ever see a dried green bean?).  Apparently "they" make most everything they eat, so need a lot of ingredients. We even visited a little cheese making shop.  

In all the places we visited, we were welcomed by the friendly owners.

While riding between the various farms and shops our guide talked about the cultures of both the Amish and the Mennonites, and some of the differences between and even among the groups.  Old Order, New Order,  rubber tires on buggies, no rubber tires on buggies, beards, no beards, buttons or pins, various practices of schooling, courting, and worship, all very informative.  She emphasized that there are "no generalizations", and local practices can be different in different groups. Both groups do not want their pictures taken.  While they speak their own (sort of a German based) language to each other all are fluent in English, and they refer to us as: “the English”. 

Besides becoming aware of the great variety of things out there, I learned to overcome my reluctance to visit these places.  It was said that “if there is a sign by the road, they expect you to come and see them”.  So when you see that long, forbidding, driveway, drive on down and see what is at the end.  It could be very rewarding.

A lot of us travel a great distance to see different cultures and experience different customs, and here we have a wonderful opportunity to do that right here at home.

And of course one always wonders about different "ways of life".. and who's to say..

DFD

A tiny taste...

One of the “optional excursions” (+€€€) offered in Antwerp was a post luncheon excursion to town called “Delicious Antwerp – Discover the best of Antwerp with several culinary stops and tasting”.  Of course the Feeder signed up for that, eschewing the city tour (also optional) of Brussels.  MFO elected to do that while I would be tasting my way through Antwerp.

So we parted ways after lunch to go our separate ways for the afternoon.  She boarded a coach, and I boarded…. my feet.   We left the ship and struck out for town again for the tasting experience.  Now when you think of Belgium and food, what comes to mind?  Things that leap to mind would include: Beer, Frites, Waffles, Mussels, and the other food group, Chocolate.   

As we walked toward town we passed some nice little cafés with people enjoying the first mentioned above.  These were very nice ladies, and I paused long enough to chat a moment 

(Please keep up Mr. Moody!)

We eventually arrived at a tavern which I didn’t get a picture of, and were ushered into a room looking into a lovely little courtyard.  How nice.

And were each served a “bowl” of beer

The brewery is De Koninck, and in this case the above beer is of the same name, their flagship amber beer.  It was quite good, and we finished the whole glass. I took tasting notes and prepared myself for the next sample.  I don’t know about you, but when I hear the word “tasting” I expect to sample the spectrum of the item.  In this case I would have liked to have several (okay, small) glasses of different styles, light, dark, wheat, etc.  But no, we thanked the servers and got up and left!  What kind of tasting was that? 

It was announced the next stop was for the famous “frites”, which seemed like a good idea after the (one glass of) beer.  Fortunately we did NOT stop here

And instead went into

which translates literally to “Chippy”

We were each given a little basket of potatoes

Which are traditionally served with the little bowl of mayonnaise.  After trying that a couple of times I'm not sure i will change my habits there. They were good, but I don’t think they’re head and shoulders above anything you can get here at a higher end restaurant which normally double fries their offerings, these days in trendy duck fat.  So, I asked our guide what fat they used, and disappeared, and eventually came back and announced: “ox fat!”.  No comment.  We were not offered any of these, which is what I expected at our beer tasting.

(some might recognize the Hoegaarden)

While walking off our fries, we paused in front of a famous spot for waffles

And along the way, of course i got distracted by a tempting sign for a place that served Mosselen (mussels) which we didn’t sample either

Served natural, with white wine, and garlic (Look), and by now the readership should know the wine selection is the classic accompaniment to Mosselens.

We did stop at sort of a takeout arm of Désiré de Lille and were given samples of the two types of “Belgian” Waffles, one made with a yeast leavened batter and the other with a heavier, almost brioche like batter.  They are normally referred to as Brussels style (former) and Leige for the latter.  Fortunately neither was glopped up with stuff that we normally get as “Belgian Waffles”.  They were quite good.

Our final stop was at a chocolate shop where I put together a small box of assorted pieces.

Of all the items we tasted, I thought the winner was by far the chocolates.  They were rich, and beautifully made.  They seemed to decorate some pieces with a clue as to what tastes they are

For instance, notice the hazelnut and pistachio pieces.  They were delicious and rich enough that one piece suffices.

So our “taste of Antwerp” included one glass of beer, a basket of fries, and two waffles (which were about the size of pop tarts (common, not a criticism).  Chocolates we had to buy ourselves, although guide did give us a cookie from some famous cookies of Antwerp

I kind of hoped that it would have been better, since it was “Optional” (I think 44€).  But, it did give a chance to see some of the “local” food.

We returned to the boat, met MFO after her tour (she wasn’t happy with that so much either), had a pretty good dinner aboard with a nice final course.

For which, of course, we were appropriately

DFD