April 2019:
After our short and exciting trip to Bavaria and Rhine Valley, from Frankfurt, we followed the Rhine river’s flow to the Tulip capital of the world – Amsterdam. End of March to mid-May is the blooming season for Tulips with mid-April being the time to see the Tulips at its best. Thanks to the ‘late’ Easter this year, we were in Amsterdam at the right time.
We spent only the first evening in Amsterdam city during the two days stay in the Netherlands. This city offers a lot more to adult tourists than families with kids. To me, the best way to experience Netherlands (or any country in Europe) is visiting smaller towns and the countryside. That is where the true beauty of Europe stays hidden. I’m (still) not a big fan of metropolitan cities and lifestyle. We chose Lisse, a small town, 30 minutes drive from Amsterdam city for the stay. Keukenhof (also known as the Garden of Europe) and a lot of flower fields are situated in that region.
This is how we spent those two memorable days!
Zaanse Schans
A small neighbourhood in Zaandam, to the north of Amsterdam, Zaanse Schans is popularly known for its wooden houses and old, slow turning, creaking windmills with meadows and canals in the background. Kids loved this place because of its village like setup with farm animals, birds, various activities like cycling, boat tours and open fields to run around. Also, there is a cheese farm with demonstrations of cheese making process and (free) tasting of different flavoured cheese. 🧀
Your dreams are what define your individuality. They have the power to give you wings and make you fly high..
P. V. Sindhu
Every windmill has its own name, history and purpose. These windmills dates back to 17th and 18th century when they were used to convert wind energy for pumping water, sawing wood and crushing grains and spices. Origin of some of those spices in 18th century can definitely be traced back to Kerala in India, I thought. Quite amazing that the windmill still works after almost 300 years. Modern windmills working for next 300 years?? no, probably not!! Paying an entry fee permitted us to explore the belly of the windmill, De Huisman.
While walking along the narrow path with canals and meadows on either sides, towards the windmills, we saw a landscape artist in action. We stopped there observing his work for some time. I’m not good enough to judge if he was an amateur or professional, but his work looked great! He was also selling his art pieces, hot from the oven. Price varied between 15€ to 300€ per painting, depending on its size. We really liked his work and decided to buy one to support him. Together with my wife, I tried to choose a good souvenir art from Netherlands. She pointed at few, I did few others and the discussion continued. To help us, our 6 years old son also joined and found his favourite, while our little one was busy feeding some ducks with grass (!!). I noticed that the artist was anxiously waiting for us to buy, at least one. But, why was he observing us so closely? Suddenly, he interrupted our discussion about choices and price, and asked with a smile on his face, “what language are you talking in?”.
The moment I said, “Malayalam, a south Indian language”, his face brightened like an electric bulb that was just turned on. He started jumping and screaming, “Yes!!! I guessed it right!!” It is not too difficult to guess we are Indians and easily enough, anyone could guess we were speaking an Indian language. We couldn’t understand what made him so excited. Then he said, “Finally, I met someone after long time whom I could try my Malayalam skills”. He then spoke a few sentences and greetings that he knew in Malayalam and asked if he was right. Yes, he was spot on (ignoring the western pronunciation)! Our son was more shocked and surprised than we were. A dutch person, in his late 20s or early 30s, whom we wanted to buy some art from, starts talking Malayalam to us. WOW!!
We understood from Willem that he had been to Kerala as a tourist and stayed there for few months. During that stay, he liked Malayalam so much, that he spent few hours in language lessons. After a good chat with him, we felt more interested in supporting him. The painting on the left (below) was our son’s pick. I tried to dissuade him with a better offer, a bigger wall paper of a cow instead of spending 90€ for this painting. Probably from our conversation about wanting windmills in the painting, when my wife and I were selecting earlier, Adi made a valid point; there was a windmill behind the cow and so he wants it, period! We finally bought two paintings from Willem with a special 30% discount for the ‘Malayalee’ family and couple of words in Malayalam written below the paintings. Definitely, this is now a special, memorable and personalised souvenir! Nanni and nice meeting you, Willem!
‘Nanni’ – Thank you || ‘Njan Kerala Til Poi’ – I have been to Kerala
We decided to treat ourselves with some ice creams after walking around for almost three hours on a sunny day, truly deserving. Before leaving Zaans Schans, we tried tasting different flavours of cheese and bought two – cheese with black pepper and red chillies. We Indians love spices!
Keukenhof
Keukenhof garden is one of the world’s biggest and popular gardens that is open only for 8 weeks in a year. What happens during rest of the year? Preparations for those 8 wonderful and busy weeks.
Tulip fields, as seen from the car park
The garden is open only from mid-March to mid-May. Over a million visitors from all over the world visit this garden during this period.
Tourists enjoying the Canal boat trip @ Keukenhof
During summer, when the season is over, all these bulbs are taken out and destroyed.
Few among over 100 varities of Tulips in the garden
Planting of new bulbs for next season take place after summer, in September. Last year, 40 gardeners had planted 7 million tulip bulbs, by hand!
Tulip fields @ Keukenhof
Tulip fields @ Lisse
One should never miss visiting the flower fields while in Amsterdam during this period. Also know as the flower capital of the world, this region has enormous area dedicated for producing flowers.
Pink Tulips @ Lisse
Thovalai, the flower capital of (erstwhile) Travancore, still continues to be a major producer of flowers in south India. This village, approximately 10 km from my home, is well known for its Jasmine. The scent of the dutch flower fields reminded me of Thovalai and my hometown.
Yello Tulips @ Lisse
The most popular and best way to explore the flower fields is by renting a bicycle. There are lots of flower fields and farms in that region, where it is possible to visit the fields (sometimes paid) and buy flowers and tulip bulbs.
Pink and red carpets welcoming us!
Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.
Luther Burbank
Tulips, tulips and tulips..
Den Haag
On the drive to our next destination, Bruges in Belgium, we took a detour to the administrative capital of Netherlands, Den Haag. If you are wondering, why we visited Den Haag (especially when we are not very interested in cities), there was a strong motive behind it! Saravanaa Bhavan, again!! Yes, this was the third Saravanaa Bhavan that we visited on this trip – Frankfurt, Amsterdam city and now, Den Haag (The Hague). SB had opened their first restaurant in the city, just a month ago and we happily certify it as the best we have been to, in Europe.
Saravanaa Special Meals – South Indian
Let me be very honest and clear, we are not SB brand loyalists. Out of all available options(?) for South Indian restaurants in this part of the world, this is the best! We filled our tummies with good food and heart with good sights, experiences, memories and beauty of Netherlands, before heading to Belgium. Part 3 (Belgium) of this Easter holiday trip will be posted soon..
Life is a Journey.. 