Blogging Anniversary - 10 years

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A while ago I checked when I did my first blog post, in order to celebrate with an anniversary post. Well, that day came and went without any reaction from me. Better late than never, so here a reminder of my very first blog post from 24 October 2012.  The book was New Finnish Grammar  by Diego Marani. Marani is an Italian novelist, translator and newspaper columnist. While working as a translator for the European Union he invented a language ‘Europanto’ which is a mixture of languages and based on the common practice of word-borrowing usage of many EU languages. It was a suitable book to start with, being a book about letters, languages and memories. With a beautiful prose, the novel went directly to my heart.  "One night at Trieste in September 1943 a seriously wounded soldier is found on the quay. The doctor, of a newly arrived German hospital ship, Pietri Friari gives the unconscious soldier medical assistance. His new patient has no documents or anything that can ide...
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A visit to Keukenhof in Holland to enjoy the Tulips!

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During our 17 years in Brussels we have never visited Keukenhof, the Garden of Europe as it is known. Well, we actually passed by once but it was the wrong time of the year so we didn't see any flowers. Mid-April (depending on the weather as always is the best time to go there to see the tulips but also a lot of other flowers. On top of this I can tell you that we were not alone. It is amazing to see all these people in all different angles, standing, leaning, bending, kneeing, sitting, lying and I don't know what angle to try to get a good photo of the flowers. People use not only cameras (some bring their tripods with them so it looks really professional) but also ipads and smart phones. It seems to be a mecca for photographers. Well, we took a few photos as well. My husband did most and he tends to inflate them. But that is the luxury of the digital photo cameras today. I delete some of them discreetly afterwards!

Flowers in various arrangements
Keukenhof means 'Kitchen garden' and is the world's largest flower garden. It is situated in Lisse in the Netherlands (just north of Den Haag). The park covers an area of 32 hectares and approximately 7 million flower bulbs are planted here every year. It is open annually from mid-March to mid-May. The parking guard told me they have 4.000 cars a day during this time.

Since I read Mike Dash's book Tulipomania  I have been a little bit of a tulip freak myself. I have always loved them but now they are closing in on obsession (but only a mild one). I really think it is a wonderful flower and today, when you see all the different shapes and colours they come in, it is really amazing. That is all I am going to say about this. I will let the pictures speak for themselves!


From the House of Orchids 


Looks like a giant orchid!

A blue river of  Muscari!





Tulips in different colours and shapes









Me trying to blend in! Perfectly dressed 
for the occasion it seems!






Fields of colour





And...if you want to know what is done when in
the tulip world you can have a look at this board.





Comments

  1. Unknown13 April 2014 at 15:30

    I love tulips and this are quite beautiful to view. Thanks for your recent visit to my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lisbeth 13 April 2014 at 17:49

    Yes, Carol, they were really beautiful. It is difficult to capture them on a photo. Real life is something else, but still a memory.

    ReplyDelete

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