Lots of flowers and plants

A very busy day…first we went to RoyalFloraHolland to see all the flowers and plants that were being auctioned today. It is the biggest floriculture Market in the world. I visited before about ten years ago when the auctions were done in the building but now they are all online. However it is still fascinating seeing all the ‘buckets’ of flowers being moved around from entering the building from the growers  to being sent to the lorrys to take to buyers around Europe and some sent by air too. Roses are the most popular flowers sold there 2.9 billion per year , tulips 1.5 billion and chrysanthemums 1.2 billion. Re plants orchids 106 million, kalanchoe 83 million and potted roses 48 million.  

Then we did a park and ride on the Metro into Amsterdam , a canal  trip …see extra and a visit to the Rijksmuseum which was very busy.
  One of the most notable paintings is the ‘Nightwatchman’ by Rembrandt . It is currently having restoration work carried out… see extra.