Keukenhof Gardens and Volendam

During our Rhine River cruise aboard Uniworld's River Empress, we had the opportunity to visit the Keukenhof Gardens and Volendam.

Keukenhof Gardens is located an hour southwest of Amsterdam and is the largest bulb flower park in the world; there are 7 million bulbs, of which 4.5 million are tulips, planted by hand on 70 acres! Given that it is only open for two months each year, we were lucky to be able to visit. Although we were there in late March, which is early in the season, I was struck by its beauty and design. I was told during my visit that the best time to see the gardens is at the end of April. My feeling is that you won't be disappointed whenever you go.

Although many of the tulips and other flowers weren't yet blooming outside in the gardens, Steve and I saw many colorful flowers in all their glory in the Willem-Alexander Pavilion including fiery tulips that I had never seen before, gorgeous lilies, and bright pink and blue hyacinths and hydrangeas. Keukenhof Gardens is also the largest sculpture park in the Netherlands and Steve, who is the photographer in the family, took many wonderful photos of the sculptures framed by lovely garden landscapes.

I was so excited to see so many tulips, I couldn't resist buying a collection of 105 exotic tulip bulbs; in October I expect to receive 15 Angelique, 15 Blue Heron, 15 West Point, 15 Flaming Parrot, 15 Princess Charmante, 15 Prinses Irene and 15 Captein's Favourite bulbs complete with instructions. Maybe I'm being silly but somehow I thought I was buying the "real thing" at Keukenhof Gardens. I can't wait to see how these tulips will flourish in my very own garden.

From Keukenhof Gardens, we took a motorcoach to Volendam, an idyllic fishing village whose early Dutch character has been well preserved.

The high point of my visit was to dress up in traditional Dutch clothing, complete with the high pointed bonnet. When asked whether I wanted to take my photo in a kitchen scene or among fishing nets, I chose the fishing nets because the kitchen would be too much out of character. Steve is the chef in the family and he won't even allow me to go in the kitchen!

After visiting some of the shops, we made our way to the Doolhof, which is a labyrinth of intimate streets that wind through the cluster of cottages nestled along the water. While I was making my way through the narrow streets, I couldn't help thinking about the advantages of a laid-back, uncomplicated lifestyle.

It was windy along the water as we walked to the River Empress which had left Amsterdam earlier in the day to meet us at Volendam. It was gusty enough to turn my cheap umbrella inside out and render it useless. Thank God the River Empress had good-quality umbrellas for our use while we were on board.

More photos of Keukenhof Gardens and Volendam