Two lips in Amsterdam

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Geo: 52.1611, 4.49015

0630 CET - Up! - Yamoto our Japanese coffee grinder has been action and we sit sipping our coffee in readiness for out trip to The Kuekenhof Bulb Fields outside Amsterdam. We will take a train from The Central Station to Leiden and then I think there is some sort of tour bus (arrrggghh!). Yes the dreaded tour bus packed full of jabbering sheep all focused on getting in your way and taking photos of themselves in silly pork pie hats.

Update: The Five Flies Restaurant was excellent but ruined by disrespectful tourists who had made absolutely no effort to dress in keeping with the magnificent surroundings of this restaurant. Elderly North American males looking like Elmer Fud taking photos and gawping at the decor really should have been told to sit down and behave! How can they think that baggy jeans and a lumberjack shirt are acceptable attire!!!! At another table sat two elderly vicar type males with about 8 younger women in flat shoes and no makeup!!!!? What on earth was was going on here! At another, a group of Italian Mafia bosses sat with glamorous ladies taking photos of each other and jabbering away on their mobiles to South American drug cartel leaders........ I was also not convinced that our Costa Rican waitress really understood the pre-rehearsed blurb she was delivering on the wine and food. Despite all this, it is a really good restaurant and the chef is well up to speed.

Turn on my bulb! After a light breakfast (as usual) we head off for Tram 13a on
The Rozengrach intersection with The Prinsengracht Canal. Us "locals" who are in the know, use the tram system extensively and it is quite easy to get around town.........

Arriving at a sensible non tourist time at Central Station, we beaker for platform 14a and jump on the banana yellow double decker "Sprinter Intercity" train to Leiden. Smugly, we settle down into blue leather seats in the "Silence Area" and chirrup to each other about the joys of independent travel (that I suspect will be available until the Russians march in and spoil the party - a la Herr Hitler in 1939)..

Leiden: Everything and everybody in The Nederlands is "cool and easy". You trundle down the gleaming escalator.....follow the sign to the buses and here you find "Mr Late Middle Aged Cheery Bus Driver" wearing a "Tulip Tie" and speaking perfect English welcoming you aboard a superb Coach leaving in 3 minutes. In the UK, you would have fought your way through a load of fertive looking oikes to a grubby bus stop only to find you have missed the last bus by 3 minutes and it will cost £25 per get a cab.

We whisk our way through "Techno Town" towards "The Bulb Fields". There is a distinct rural smell in the air and slowly, the townscape gives way to a wide expanse of flat fields where we can see what at first appearance, looks like stunted cabbages interspersed with the odd yellow flower.........Oh Blimey!! we are too early!!!!!!. Suddenly, I spot a tuft of daffodils on a roundabout and all all is well. We pull into the Keukenhof carpark and glance several large tour buses.....Good grief the bars'@rds have beaten us to it!!!

Passing through the entrance reminiscent of Chessington Zoo in 1968, you are greeted by a waft of music delivered by a vast automated barrel organ. The ubiquitous South East Asian types are all snapping away taking pictures of each other's false teeth......tubs of tulips are strategically placed between the waffle vendors to give you hope that there is more than this.

Already grumpy and preparing for a disappointment, we head off towards "The Windmill".

How wrong first impressions can be. This is probably the finest horticultural display we have ever witnessed. Better that the great "North Cheam Crocus Fest" and makes Kew Gardens look like the back of Mitcham Eastfileds Station car park!!!.

Bulbs in flower.....bulbs just peeking through.......scented Hyacinths......daffodils......tulips of every colour imaginable............WOW!!! .........seeing is believing.!! Even the most hardened Millwall fan could not fail to be impressed.

After 3 solid hours we are "Bulbed Out" and head off for the town centre where we find the usual Kamikaze Cyclists and extras from Van de Valk.

Feeling in need of sustenance from our Tarten Brethren, we head back to Amsterdam Central Station (35 mins) by train and arrive to find that Max and his "Squadron" have moved us to a superb room overlooking the canal as promised.

Tonight we head off to The Deer and Tiger Indonesian Restaurant..........

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