Keukenhof, Clogs and Cheese...

It was an absolutely beautiful day today. The temperature got into the low 80's and the sky was blue. It was fantastic. Jess had a soccer game in Germany, Russ went on a motorcycle ride in Belgium, and Brandon and I went on a trip with KB to the Netherlands (Holland). That's not something I get to say every day, but things have been a little out of the ordinary since we moved over here. I'm good with that. Even though we went to Keukenhof Gardens just a few weeks ago, we were off to see it again. We actually had this trip planned before the other one, but decided to do both, because the first trip included a visit to Noah's Ark, and this one included the clog and cheese factories. The flowers were as gorgeous as ever. The only down side to the visit were the crowds. Today is the busiest day of the season at the Gardens, because it's the day of the Flower Parade. (It's basically the Netherlands' version of the Rose Bowl Parade.) We didn't stay for the parade, but the Gardens were packed! If you want to visit them, I would suggest that you check the schedule and avoid Flower Parade Day. Brandon and I had seen most of the Gardens on the last visit, so today was more about checking out the interesting places that we had missed. We came across this little tunnel made of sticks, winding through the trees, and Brandon went in to check it out. It was a tight fit, but very cool. This was the main thing that we were looking for...the hedge maze. It was really fun. The hedges are taller than they look. There is no way you can see over them, so you have to wind your way around in it until you reach the platform in the middle. Then you can climb up and get this view. We had a lot of fun in there. I think this was my favorite color combination in the entire Gardens. It was absolutely beautiful in real life. Soon, it was time to find our way back to the bus and head on to the next destination.On the way out, I noticed this lovely couple. Mr. and Mrs. Rabbit had found a quiet little corner of the garden, and were enjoying a dance. Ahhhh, love is in the air. Most people would assume that these crowds were lining up outside of Keukenhof Gardens to see the parade. This is not the case. I have it on good authority that they had heard the rumor that a world famous blogger was inside the park, and they were hoping to catch a glimpse of her. Yes, I waved at them as we passed by. I could tell that it meant a lot to them. Our next stop was at the Simonehoeve, a cheese farm and clog factory in the Netherlands. We learned some pretty cool stuff about how cheese is made, and even got to taste a LOT of samples. A few cheeses ended up coming home with me. If you are feeling adventurous, order some of their smoked cheese from their website. It's delicious! Then we went next door to the Clog Factory. They demonstrated how they make clogs. Again, very cool! It's fascinating to see how they clogs are formed. We got to see the process, beginning with a chunk of wood and ending with a completed clog. The fellow giving the demonstration was a lot of fun, too. This is what the clog looks like after the first stage. Next, they drill away the inside. The final product...glorious wooden clogs!

LOTS of clogs, in fact. You can get them to actually wear, but I only got a little pair to put on a shelf. Let's face it, how many times have you said, "Hmmm, I wish I had a pair of wooden shoes to wear to the mall today!" Yep. Me, neither. By the way, in case you were wondering, the rounded toed clogs were worn by farmers to protect their feet from heavy farm equipment. The pointed toed clogs were worn by fishermen, and their nets were hooked onto the tips of their shoes to help hold them while they worked. The pointed toed shoes were also worn by the women, because they were very helpful when kicking husbands in the tail when they misbehaved. The man at the shoe factory told us this. I believe him. He would make this stuff up.