In the Netherlands, there is something really interesting hanging out in the canals. Look familiar? Yep, it's
Noah's Ark. OK, it's a scaled down replica, but it's still really cool. They are in the process of building a true to size Ark, but for now, this is something you need to go and check out. Some friends of ours scheduled a bus trip to see it, so we boarded at 6:30 (ugh!) in the morning, and took off.
Now, I'm sure that a lot of things come to mind when you think about Noah's Ark, but I'll tell you what I think about. It's the poem by Shel
Silverstein, that was turned into a song by the Irish Rovers. I'm a product of my environment. I blame my Dad. Now 99.9% of the people who read this are scratching their heads right now and thinking "Irish Rovers? Who the heck are they?" My parents are the only ones who know, I'm sure. Go ahead. I'll give you a minute to google it. (You know you want to.) Now I'll ask you if you noticed something in the picture.....yep. Two male lions. Noah needs to be careful about these things. No more lions...but being the unusual family that they are, they have decided to adopt a baby deer. Not a couple to be left out of the newest fad, Mr. and Mr. Moose have also adopted.
At least they decided to stay within their species.
The Lord seen some sinning, and it gave Him pain. And He says, "Stand back, I'm going to make it rain." And He says, "Hey Noah, I'll tell you what to do. Build me a floating zoo, and take some of those green alligators, and long-necked geese, some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees, some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born, the loveliest of all is the unicorn."
Old Noah was there, and he answered the call. He finished up making the ark just as the rain started to fall. He marched up the animals, two by two, and he called out as they came through..."Hey Lord, I got green alligators and long-necked geese, some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees, some cats and rats and elephants, but Lord I'm so forlorn, I just can't find no unicorns." 
Well, you get the gist of the story, but to find out what happened to those silly unicorns, you just have to google....Here's Noah himself, with some of his friends.
This is the upper level of the Ark. It was really interesting to see, and quite frankly, I think it would make an awesome house boat.
It also answered the age old question of they ate while they were at sea for a year...they had vending machines. Now it all makes sense, doesn't it.
After the Ark, we went to
Keukenhof Gardens in Holland. The Gardens are only open for a couple of months each year, during the blooming season, of course. It's amazing! Even with the late frost that we had this Spring, the flowers were blooming beautifully.
This is an organ that someone made by hand. It was very impressive, and made beautiful music.
We spent several hours wandering around the Gardens, but still didn't see it all. It's HUGE!
I think I took about 1,000 pictures.
Love the yellow and red together!
This windmill was built in 1892, and was donated to the Gardens in 1957. They restored it and opened it up to the public in 2008. There is a great view from the top.
Don't these remind you of peppermint candies?
It's hard to tell from the picture, but these flowers were teal blue in the center and faded to a purplish blue toward the outside.
I've never seen anything like these. They almost didn't seem real.
I think I had to have a picture of each kind of tulip that they had.
You also have to have the tourist picture wearing the clogs. Brandon was a good sport about it.
The swans were pretty, but nasty, too. They were begging for bread, and whenever the ducks got too close to the food, the swans would pull out their tail feathers. Cranky old birds!
I loved this little waterfall.
All too quickly, it was getting late and time to board the bus to return home. It was a beautiful day at
Keukenhof Gardens, and we hope to return there again. It's one of those places that's different each time you visit it. If you haven't been there, go quickly, because it closes the middle of May. If you don't make it by then...you'll have to wait until next March. I hope you enjoyed our
adventures this week as much as we did. We are going to do absolutely nothing for the next couple of days. Then I'll see if I can find a castle to explore that doesn't require a 3 miles hike. The weather is great, and time is flying by so fast. There are lots more place to see in Europe. No telling where we will end up next... Happy Travels!
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. 
