1131-1135:  Flower Power

Thursday 11th – Monday 29th April 2019

Well, the warly bird catches the warm!  So early we sailed to Royal Flora Holland – parking beside the big ‘uns… HGVs akimbo… Short queue good as not pre-cooked us! Or maybe pre-booked.  Massive production facility with auto fork lifts on tram tracks. Auction in process – lightning speed…

The photos tell the story, as always.

Beach doggy walk and on to campsite for the Wild camping friends. Bikes at the ready – to a village nearby – for coffee and cake – apple pie again… we cycled watch the carnival floats parked ready for the morrow.  Following day, with San and David, cycled to the same cafe to watch this incredible parade passing – with coffee and cake – and a modicum of vino…   Lots of Oompah bands…….

Evening meal with S and D – tales and excellent company….

Pm – K cycled to walk the pooches on the beach – no bike locks – so local security guard provided one – human kindness? 

Early bird again with S and D – to Kookyhoff Giardino.  Brekkie in Jez for all 4 of us – and doggies on lead – off to explore the wonders of this magical place.  Too busy by 11:30 – just as well we were the early worms…

Random fact:  62% of the world’s bulbs are grown in Holland.

 

Royal Flora Holland: 

Trays and trays of perfect blooms.

This was towards the end of the auction, but you get an idea how long the warehousing is. 

Dutch auction:  a count down timer; the price dropping as the red dot moves round, until a bid is made. 

An army of pallet movers, hitching up and scanning the barcode.  Headphones to receive instructions.  And lots of safety posters, so they must have a few bangs.

Most of the bidding is done remotely now.

The Flower Parade:

We got to see the floats up close where the were parked up the night before.  Amazing detail  Volunteers pin the blooms in place.

Local firms entered cars with displays, but I thought a few of them looked funereal.

One of my favourites … the horses are made from bulbs.

This year’s theme was the changing world.  its of flower power, love and peace references.

 Celebrating in the local town … the church was awash with displays.

 Our comfortable seating to watch the parade … two coffees, cake and a couple of glasses of wine … Each!  Sanchia and David led us astray!!!

 Marching bands both adult and children.

All the local kids had decorated their bikes and took part.

The Keukenhof Gardens: 

We rashly entered the maze, but only met one dead end.  And got out again 🙂

Reflects our mantra.

Looking down from the windmill onto J and CO2.

King Arthur’s Sword like … the axe was not to be shifted.

A fair bit of denim around, most of it being used as a display.

No tunes came out of this …not J’s lack of talent but the lack of working innards.

Who planted that here?

Not just one, but two rivers of Muscari …

All around are bulb fields.  Apparently it takes 25 years of work before bulbs come on the retail market.  

 

Oddments: 

The sun came out and so did the Aperol Spritz.

CO2 encouraging me to get up … my morning hug.

Check out the value of one bulb during Tulipmania … know we’d rather have one motorhome!

Biting winds most days and we woke to frost … I did NOT take this picture … still snuggled up!

Final night on the campsite BBQ with most of the wild camping.co.uk crew.

It’s a Dutch Dogs Life.  No walking off lead virtually anywhere!  Sign everywhere to keep dogs on leads and too many bikes on the paths.

… except at the beach.

Street appropriately named.