Floriade

Every 10 years, the Netherlands hosts Floriade, a world horticultural expo.  After seeing the beauty of nature at Keukenhof Gardens, we traveled by train 2 hours to the City of Venlo where Floriade is being held.  Venlo is in the southeastern portion of the Netherlands along its border with Germany.  It's difficult to capture exactly the essence of Floriade, but the best way I know to describe it is to say it is like the World's Fair, except with a horticultural theme.  Check out Floriade's website.

Standing in front of the Netherlands' exhibit --
showcasing the latest in sustainability
(and perhaps architecture?)

There were numerous educational exhibits describing the latest advances in horticulture and agriculture, as well as exhibits of different countries displaying gardens representative of their culture.  And of course, the park was also superbly manicured with lots of flowers throughout -- there was even a large greenhouse showcasing the world's tropical plant life.  The neat thing about Floriade is that the park is purpose-built for the expo and will be used as a business park once the expo is over, utilizing the latest sustainability techniques.  It just opened on April 5 so we visited during the first week.  While the flowers were yet to be in full bloom, it was great from a crowd perspective as it wasn't filled with wall to wall tour buses.  I suspect by summer time, it will be wall to wall people.