Tulips!

An interesting day visiting the famous Keukenhof Tulip Festival just outside of Amsterdam.  Over 7,000,000 tulip bulbs are planted annually, and the grounds are open to the public for the eight weeks the tulips are in bloom each year.

Needless to say, the place was packed with visitors!  Nonetheless, the flowers were absolutely fabulous, and I marveled at the fact that all of the planting and the digging up of the bulbs there is done by hand every year.  Beautiful beds planted in vivid stripes and rivers of colour.

We also enjoyed seeing the tulip fields where the commercial growers cultivate their crops.  The vivid strips of different coloured tulips made me think of Mark Rothko's colour field paintings.

After Keukenhof, we went on to Clusius Craft Distillers where they make premium world-class alcohol from Dutch tulip bulbs!  Who knew there was such a thing as Tulip Vodka!  One of the owners of the distillery gave a very informative talk about how they craft their products, and then we enjoyed a tasting -- a delicious and refreshing Tulip Spritz made with Elderflower, lime, mint, sparkling water, and Clusius Tulip Vodka, and also a taste of their Eau de vie (a bit too strong for my taste, but I loved the beautiful bottle it comes in!)

More adventures in Amsterdam tomorrow ...