April 2015- Netherlands

Once again I have severely fallen behind in my blogging.  What can I say?  It really takes a lot of motivation for me to write.  If only there was a way to transfer everything stored in my brain and have it magically appear on the computer without me lifting a finger.  Perhaps not... Any who, April was our "first" bigger vacation since I have been in Germany. Prior to coming to Germany, I had been doing lots of research (thank you pinterest) of places I wanted to visit during my time here.  As a compulsive planner, I felt the need to see everything by the end of the year.  Of course this idea is unrealistic.  Luckily, I took a step back, realized I have 4 years here, and decided to see whatever I wanted.  

The first country we decided on was the Netherlands.  Why?  It was never a country I dreamed of seeing, or felt I would have to see it before I died.  However, this beautiful country ended up being a place I am glad I didn't pass up!  On pinterest I found an article about beautiful places to see and visiting the Keukenhof was one of them.  Never heard about it before coming here, but I did my research and I knew I just had to see it!.

Exactly what is the Keukenhof it is a HUGE tulip festival about an hour away from Amsterdam.  Definitely a not-so-hidden gem.  I had always wanted to see tulip gardens so why not see them in the Netherlands?!?

This ended up being a weekend trip and not only did we hit the Keukenhof, but we also went to the Rotterdam Zoo, and stayed on the coast! Seriously a beautiful country!!!!

 

Just a sneak peak of some of the displays at the Keukenhof!

Our first day, once we drove up there (only about a 4 hr. drive), we decided to hit the Rotterdam Zoo first since it was raining on-and-off.

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 In addition to the Zoo there was also a huge aquarium! Which, of course, I love visiting. 

 Don't et the smile fool you.  This was a huge dome inside of which was a "tropical" exhibit.  Andrew practically had to drag me inside since tons of butterflies are just flying free!  They are huge.  No thanks ;)

 This lion came right up to the glass!

 The zoo ended up being a lot of fun.  I had read about going from other people and I am glad we went.  There was so much to see, despite all of the animal descriptions being in Dutch ;)

After we left the zoo we drove another hour to the far west side of the Netherlands.  It was actually a very pretty drive despite the crazy construction which led us down these narrow, country-type roads.  For a while, I thought we would never get there but I am so glad we did!

 The "wider" of the narrow roads during our drive there. 

 Pretty, right?

 Just about to our hotel...  We stayed at a place called Cape Helius Hotel.  There wasn't a lot of inventory nearby the Keukenhof since it was something of a last minute booking.  But we saw this place on Booking.com and it said "ocean-view", I was sold!  We went with some good friends of ours which made it even more fun!

 I had to take this picture because of how ironic it was.  I went out to the beach and of course, in April, it is still pretty cold.  But I went out in my boots and jacket anyways!  I love the ocean.

 Right outside our hotel.  I had never been to a light house before!

 I had no idea when I booked that we would be staying such a neat little ocean-side town.  I would easily go back to just experience that area!  The map to the left had a layout of where we were staying.  That evening we just explored the area right next to the hotel which happened to be something of a battle memorial.  It had tons of hidden bunkers and even a cannon!

 This town also had a huge windmill where somebody lived!

 Our view right outside.  There is a really nice restaurant in the hotel which leads out to the beach.  We ate there for dinner, yummy!

 Our friends had a little boy and lucky for him there was an awesome playground.

 Our hotel's "backyard"

The next morning we went to the Keukenhof...

I have tons of pictures! If only I could add them all. It was beautiful.  We spent several hours and still feel like we still didn't even see everything there!  It was soooo packed but it was a great day, since it was windy, the windmill was actually turning! They had tons of exhibits featuring different flowers and themes.  We also went on the boat ride to see the fields, not exactly worth it since not all of the fields had flowers, but still fun for the experience.  It really was a fun, quick trip to the Netherlands.  Another country I know we will go back to! I can't wait for where we go next.

Bucket List: Visit the Keukenhof- Check! :D


Love Always, 

The Andersons