Easter at Keukenhof

We awoke to a glorious sunny Easter morning.  What better way than to spend part of our day seeing God's glory in nature.   Keukenhof Gardens was set up in 1949 to serve as a showcase for bulb growers and currently has several million bulbs planted over about 80 acres of spectacularly manicured grounds.  The name Keukenhof Gardens literally means "kitchen garden" and its location near Lisse is the former estate of a 15th century Dutch Countess who grew vegetables and herbs on the property.

We took the train from Amsterdam to Leiden, and from Leiden took a bus to Keukenhof.  Billed as the largest flower garden in the world, it's only open for about 2 months each year -- during the Spring when everything is in bloom.   Although it appears we were about 2 weeks before the peak for tulips, it was still an amazing display of color and variety -- tulips, hyacinth, and daffodils of all shapes and sizes.  They also had exhibition halls featuring displays of orchids and roses.

Keukenhof is in the heart of the Netherlands' bulb growing region, and during our journey we could see many fields in bloom.  Later in the day, our sun disappeared and the temperature dropped, but it was still a magnificent experience.  I may have to take extra allergy pills, but it will be worth it.