Tulips and Windmills

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Day 6 April 20 Haarlem, Keukonhof Gardens
We left the port in Amsterdam at 4am and motored to the town of Haarlem Holland, arriving at 8am.

This is an exciting day. We boarded the tour busses and took the 45 minute drive to the famed Keukenhof gardens. These gardens are only open 3 months every year and during spring when tulips bloom. Over a million visitors come year from all over the world during these spring months.

The bulb farmers of Holland have planted 7 million bulbs in these extensive gardens. These gardens were truly a magnificent visual overload of beauty and awe. We spent a total of 5 hours wandering through all the paths and enjoying every step. I will upload some photos but I wished I could share the fragrance of the gardens particularly from the hyacinth. I really loved the tulips with the ragged edges. This event is why we came on this cruise and we were so blessed that the flowres were in bloom, that we enjoyed a fantastic sunny, blue sky day. We are so very lucky.

We returned to the boat and headed to the lounge for cocktails, snacks and relax. Bill and Jane came in to the lounge with us. The ship had a small 3 man group come in to play music for us and they were really great. Everyone was singing and dancing and having a great time. They ended when the cruise director came in and wanted to talk about the next day activities. The crowd wanted more music! After Monica spoke about tomorrow, we headed up to the dining room for dinner. As always it was wonderful and then we turned in very tired.Good night.

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