Explore the 'World of Tulips....... Keukenhof '

It was my first weekend in Netherlands and my husband decided to take me to the 'World of Tulips' --- The Keukenhof Garden. It is situated at 'Lisse, Holland'. If you want detailed information, you can also visit the website : www.keukenhof.nl

It is open between March to May each year according to Tulip's season.There are two ways to  reach the Keukenhof, either  from Leiden station or Schiphol Airport. Come out of the station and catch the direct bus. Bus number 54 from Leiden station and bus number 58 from Schiphol station.

On Saturday morning, we started our small one day trip to  Keukenhof from Utrecht station. We went to Schiphol first by train and later by bus up to the Keukenhof gate. The day was cloudy with a speedy wind, as usual very cold. You won't believe, I really had worn  6-8 clothes one on other to protect myself from cold wind.. which turned to make me look 'fat' in all my snaps :(

As soon as we entered the garden, we became stand stilled by seeing the beautiful flower arrangements in the garden. It was just like someone had spread colours on Canvas and all those colours had come together to form a beautiful painting no one had ever seen before...... It was awesome.....

Different colour shades ranging from Red, Yellow, Blue, Purple, Dark chocolaty to Faint Pink, Light Blue etc.. etc... Not even possible to express some colours.....

The Garden was presented to visitors with an amazing aesthetic sense and unimaginable shapes and shades... The garden had an elegant way in which flowers were planted. This year theme was from Russia with love. Every year theme changes.

The garden is very huge and you easily spend 7-8 hours only by exploring new and different arrangements in the garden. Awesome combinations and shapes.....

The garden also has Restaurants, Coffee shops, General shops where you can sit calmly, get relaxed and recall all the beautiful colours in your mind.... take a break and again start exploring and enjoying ......

In the Centre of the garden, you can enjoy the scenery of small lake in which swans and ducks enjoy the sunshine. At one end you find the fountains surrounded by small pond. Fountains really  play nice and fascinating theme.....

As you move forward, you come across to ' Bhul - Bhulaiya' :), made up of plant fencing.... As you go on and on, you reach to the entrance only .......but what about the exit ?????????? very hard to find and reach …...

One part of the garden, the old fashioned 'Wind mill' is situated.... beautifully built and maintained..... We all know that The Netherlands is the pioneer of the wind-mills. The Wind-mill is open from inside and anyone can go inside and upstairs to see the ultimate and fascinating view of the garden from height... Some volunteers also dance underneath the wind-mill to entertain visitors... You also find shop near as well as inside it... small shoes made up of china clay or wood .. speciality of Holland.. and garden greeting cards, gift articles etc etc... It is the best place of shopping for all visitors..... and place for relaxation......

The time passes away and you never come to know how you reach to end point of the garden... the ‘exit’... Each moment you spend in enjoying the flowers,colours, arrangements, fountains, lake, windmill and blah... blah... blah... !!!!

You always return with a colourful unforgettable memories of Keukenhof.....

By the 5.30 pm, we also ended our trip to Keukenhof with lots of enjoyment and excitement.... After getting out off the garden, we both became quiet and started ignoring each others existance….just not wanted to come out of the Keukenhof ..... the silence took hold of the situation slowly.. left us unknowing to the fact..... alone with unforgettable memories of world of heaven ... :)

Enjoy the Keukenhof once in a life time ...... keep living and enjoying :) :) :)

No journey any more :) Hurrreeeee..... !!!!!

I still remember the day I landed here.... It was around 5.30 pm. I had a big bag in my left hand, on sack on my back and Passport having Netherlands' Welcome Stamp in another hand. After 30 hours journey, I hardly could understand anything... My eyes started finding my hubby.... and as soon as saw him, putting aside all things in my hands, I literally ran and hugged him..... no matters, who cares !!!!

That hug was for the my successful journey for, to be with my love ... :)

We stepped out of the airport.... and one chilled, smoothing breeze passed away by me.... I could really smell that breeze .. breeze of Welcome, happiness, relaxation ......

Coming back to the world, I slowly started shivering ..... the temperature was around 10 degree ... very cold... but bit romantic....

From India, I started with 43 degree temperature and landed in 10 degree..... Just imagine what an extreme difference I experienced in temperature.... just within a couple of hours !!

The atmosphere was quite humid and cold.. My all tiredness went within a moment.. and we headed towards the Utrecht.

It nearly takes around 45 minutes to reach Utrecht from Schiphol by train. But it was not the big deal ..... because the Netherlands has its very good Public transport.. whether it is a train or bus or tram. They have regular and continuous frequency and so you hardly find a two wheeler on the road. Ultimately, no pollution.....

The Rail/train public transport is operated mainly by the Governmental Company – 'Nederlandse Spoorwegen' i.e. 'NS'. It has provided all necessary facilities to customers.

The Bus companies include Arriva, Breng, Connexxion, Hermes, Qbuzz, Syntus and Veolia. Connexxion plays vital role in Bus transport.

After taking train from Schiphol to Utrecht, we reached to Utrecht Centraal Station. The Schiphol Station is underground but not the Utrecht Station. The first and prominent thing I noticed at both stations is ' cleanliness' .... no comparison with Indian Railway Stations.....

From there, we stepped down for bus.. hardly waited for 5 minutes.... and started heading towards my new house ...... Slotlaan, Utrecht. And finally, reached home at 6.30 pm.....

Again a Big Sigh of Relax................. no journey any more ;)

Only relaxation... and Chilling Out ..................... Hurrreeeee !!!!!!!

Why the 'Special' bonding with 'Dutch'.....

The Netherlands is the beautiful country, I have seen ever. It is the part of Europe Continent. Developed country with a nature touch.

My special bonding with 'Dutch' stared from the day I travelled alone to The Netherlands...

My husband already had gone to Netherlands and after one month I had to go ... And in between, Volcano irrupted.... I was just praying to God to let me land safely in Holland.. all flights got cancelled for nearly a week...... and by my luck or bad luck, one seat got confirmed with 'Turkish Airline' for me....

But it was not a direct flight....I had to change my flight at Istanbul and take another flight to go to Netherlands... a journey of 30 hours from Pune....

The problem started right from 'Mumbai Aiport'..... first flight was delayed by half an hour.... and it reached Istanbul about an hour late.....

At 'Istanbul Aiport', hardly anyone could speak or understand English. I tried a lot to express myself by doing different actions and things but unfortunately no one understood me. I only wanted to confirm did I need to complete any formality at that Airport... But I did not get the right answer quickly..Finally at one Help Desk, one guy tried to tell me no other formalities are required and directed me to the waiting area in his language... I understood by his expression only...

Finally when I settled down at waiting area and started continuously following the Display board for my next flight updates, I heard the someone next to me was talking in English ???? An old lady with a beautiful 'blue' eyes, fair complexion and kindness on her face :) For a moment, I stared at her..... and unknowingly muttered 'What a beautiful eyes !!!!' She smiled at me.. and said' Hi, I am Marga Von Bon from The Netherlands'. For the very first time, I am seeing an old , beautiful Dutch lady....

Suddenly I regained my senses and understood that she actually had spoken in English ... Ohh my God !!!.... I can not express the feeling now,what I felt at that moment.. a sigh of relax....!!!!!

I introduced myself to her and by my luck, she was also going to 'Schiphol' with the same flight. She was also in worry about her luggage and no one understood her also at the Airport.

So I explained her about the luggage and she also started interacting with me in English and helped me a lot. She did not know much English .. coz in Netherlands, people speak 'Dutch' and English very rarely. But they do try to speak.

So after about an 2 hours later, our flight number displayed and we both literally started running to find the Terminal of our flight. After 15-20 minutes, exploring the whole Airport, we reached to 'Checking' section and then we both said good bye to our problems ... and took off to Netherlands :)

That kind old lady, really took cake of mine like her child and helped me a lot .. as I was travelling for the first time to abroad and that to alone ....

When we landed at Netherlands, 'Schiphol Airport', we moved to take our baggage. She got her quickly within 5 minutes.. but mine ?????????????

I again started worrying .... I could not see my bag though 15-20 minutes had already passed. But she stayed there to pamper me and to make me feel like at home country.... Actually need not to wait until I receive my bag... But she accompanied me to relax me ...... We waited for more than half hour, and finally I saw my bag ... husshhhh......

At that point, we both said good bye to each other with the gratitude....

I would never forget this such a lovely and caring experience in my whole life :)

Since that day, I really share a special bond with 'Dutch'