Keukenhof Gardens

Last weekend, my son and I went to Keukenhof Gardens in Holland with some of our friends. The weather wasn't lovely, but you can't let weather stop you here. If you do, you'll never leave the house, and I was really excited to go see their beautiful gardens.
Keukenhof is about a 3 hour drive from our little house in Lombise, but it's mostly interstate, or the European equivalent, so it was smooth sailing once my son had the proper snacks and entertainment. The thing I found interesting about the drive, was that there are no real signs or billboards here. There are some states that have laws about the number of billboards advertising things, and it must be the same here, only more strict. Keukenhof is HUGE and famous, I was expecting to see something letting me know I was close, especially once we got into Holland. Nada. Anyway, I had Homer, our trusty GPS system that has rarely steered me wrong.
Keukenhof is set in the town of Lisse, Holland. Lisse is a little town that probably loves the money the gardens bring into the city during the spring, but is very glad to see the tourists leave after the bulbs have lived their lives. The traffic was crazy starting about 8km away from town and the traffic police were out at all the lights directing traffic despite the working lights. A little bit of madness, but no use sitting at a light when there isn't any traffic coming from one certain direction.
Before you even get to Lisse, you can see some of the impressive bulb fields. To look off to the side of the road and see row after row of color, whole farm fields of tulip bulbs, was a sight to behold. I remember driving in Kansas once and coming upon a huge sunflower field, it's similar shock. I can only assume that the bulb farmers plant them with equipment and not by hand, but I haven't been able to find any specific information about bulb planting on a large scale basis, and it is LARGE scale.
 Really, I never knew that fields like this existed.
Keukenhof does have some fields like this that you can see as you drive up to the park, but inside the park are more manicured gardens that are impressive in their own right. Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, gladiolas all in gorgeous, ornamental displays all over this huge park.
There were many little fountains, statues and other picture taking opportunities at the park, but if you ask my son what his favorite things were, he'd tell you the slide and the windmill. Keukenhof was thoughtful enough to put in a park, complete with not-up-to-US-safety-standard playground equipment. Not to say that it isn't well made, but most playground equipment here has some major safety hazards that parents either have to get over, or be miserable. I choose not to be miserable, and my son has a great time and is a heck of a little climber. The windmill was safer, but my son was most impressed with the inside of the windmill where you can see all the gears that makes it work. Using these two things as a guide for my son's future, he'll either be an mechanical engineer or a stuntman.
Our trip was capped off with a trip to the souvenir shop where we came home with new shirts for Daddy and son, a bottle opener to add to the collection and a small spinner for the yard that looks like a windmill. (a boy's must have apparently) It was a great day, lots of walking and sniffing and fun. The drive back was peaceful since the boy ran himself ragged and fell asleep about 30 minutes into the trip.
Keukenhof was just lovely, and I'm hoping to drag my hubs back there later in the season to see some of the gardens that hadn't come into full bloom yet.

Spring Break part 3

The last big excursion we took with SHAPE Trips and Tours was a day in Barcelona. I do wish that this would have been put earlier in the week, so we could have gone back if we wanted, and I would have wanted. The city is spread out, so a bus tour would have been long, like we did in Rome, but it would have been fun.
We were able to go to Park Guell, which was designed for a wealthy family by the architect Antoni Guadi. It was just beautiful, he worked with landscape artists to design the gardens so they would fit into the environment well. It was kind of Texan looking with the plants that were chosen. He designed a few houses in the park as well as an absolutely gorgeous seating area. The seating area is done with mosaics all around and the colors were beautiful. I would have hated to been the mason that had to lay all the little pieces of tile to made the designs, especially, on the under part of the area.  Park Guell could be something that could take you a small amount of time to enjoy, or the better part of the day. We didn't have beautiful weather, and we only had 90 minutes, but I made the most of it. To live in a city where a park this beautiful is available to wander around in anytime of the day would be wonderful.
The next big thing we got to see/drive past slowly, was the Sagrada Familia, another one of Antoni Guadi's famous works. The cathedral is still unfinished, though it has been under construction for 100 years. Guadi died before it was finished. The cathedral is being built with donations and public funds, so who knows how long it will take to be completed, but for what was charged to go inside and the LONG line in the middle of April, it looks like there's a steady flow of money.
We ended our day at La Rambla, a pedestrian shopping/market area. Lots of pickpockets in the area and it was quite crowded, but it was a great place. The weather was yuck, so we did find a place off the main place to eat inside. There is also a huge open air market there that was amazing. The fruit stands alone had the most beautiful, colorful fruit. I bought a huge container of fresh fruit for snack and it only cost 1,50 euro. I wish I would have had the camera to take pictures of the fruit stands, really, the colors were too amazing to be true.
At one end of La Rambla, there is a statue of Christopher Columbus, pointing west. It's a nice statue and a great way to know which way is which.
Barcelona is definitely a place that I'd love to go spend some more time. The city is huge and is worth more than just an 8 hour day trip.

Spring Break part 2

When we signed up for our SHAPE Trips and Tours vacation to Lloret de Mar, Spain, there were 3 excursions on the list. 1. Marineland (discussed) 2. Medieval Dinner Theater and 3. Day trip to Barcelona.
Now, with a 4 year old in tow, and having read my last post, you can probably guess which one we thought would be most exiting for our son. Knights, horses, jousting and eating dinner with your hands?!? What's not to love? Well, let me tell you

Our guides from SHAPE had worked with a tour company in the Costa Brava region to get everything just so. The guides already weren't overjoyed with the Marineland experience. We had to go up from there, really. Again, the private showings of the animal shows were nice, but.....we could do better.

So, we all board the bus at 1945, that's right, 7:45pm, to drive over to the Medieval Dinner Theater. It's a beautiful night and we only took one wrong turn on the way there.  (previous issues with directions and the Dutch drivers) We pull up to the castle, and, oddly, we're the only buses there. No, make that the only vehicles there. The show is to start in 30 minutes and no one is parked out front or on the sides. Perhaps another private viewing and all the performers are parked in back? Strangely, the sign in front now shows that there is also a cabaret show. Fun, but probably not family friendly.

Pictures are taken by the moat, and the front doors and the shields. Our son and his bestie had matching knight costumes, a birthday gift special for the trip to the Medieval Dinner Theater. We are ready for those door to open. Phone calls are made and someone shows up from the same company as the MDT and says we're in the wrong spot. No big deal, we'll load the buses at 2045 and follow the car to the right spot.

We pull up to what only looks like a scene from a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western and the wall says, La Siesta. Fake torches, old carriages, waterfall.....hmmm....  We are let in and seated at family style table and listen to a blond singer, that has entranced my son while we all try and figure out where the sword play and jousting will happen.

Quick back story: Earlier in the week, while perusing the Lloret magazine, I come upon an ad for World's Fastest Flamenco and IN JEST asked my husband if he'd be interested in that. "H#!! No," was the response I received.

Dinner is served, thank goodness, sangria was served and the show began. The blond was the warm up singer, followed by a thick set man with a thick head of hair singing in a decent tenor voice. CDs for 15 Euro were available. Then came the dancers. Warm up dancers before the main man came on stage and the place went wild. Not even kidding, wild. I knew immediately who this man was, I had seen his picture in the Lloret magazine, it was The World's Fastest Flamenco, or Ted Nugent's Spanish Brother, as he was to be called for the rest of the evening.

Now, I understand that there are many things that I'm not mature enough for, example, birthing classes. I, apparently, am not mature enough to take in The World's Fastest Flamenco and appreciate it for what it is. I'm just not. I accept it. Please, I dare you, check out this website and tell me that you are. http://www.lasiesta.net/en/artistas.htm There were tight white pants, flaming feet of fury, long hair flinging, and sweat flying everywhere. It really was just too much. Many in attendance at my table were happy for the free flowing, free refills of sangria. The same group was happy for children too darn tired to understand that we didn't get to see swords and horses and were almost asleep for most of the show.

All in all, it wasn't a horrible night. We took it the best we could. It was absolutely not our guide's fault that the MDT wasn't in season yet and so they rebooked us at their will and to keep our money at their other show, La Siesta. Culturally, it was a hit, a huge hit. Most of the other tables were on their feet, loving every minute of it. A few tables were ordering more sangria and staring blankly at the stage, I  assume they used the same Costa Brava tour company and were suppose to be at the Medieval Dinner Theater as well.

In case you're interested, you can buy DVDs for the show, 15 EU.

Spring Break part 1

In February, the schools here had a full week off for pre-lenten break, or ski week as it's more commonly known. This month, the kids had 2 full weeks off for spring break. Yes, that's right, 2 full weeks. It began with a half day off before the 2 weeks off so the teachers could get the heck out of Dodge, I guess. Either way, spring break.

I had seen a flyer and heard the SHAPE Trips and Tours manager speak about the spring break trip that was going to happen way back in December, I believe. A trip to the Catalan coast of Spain, 8 days there total, 2 days of travel for a cost that we couldn't pass up, so I booked it right after the new year. We would go, along with our friends that also have a son about our sons' age.

Finally, after months of waiting, the day came. On April 5th, we headed out on a big 'ol double decker touring  bus for 15 hours. We left in the evening and did a few stops along the way for the drivers, smokers and for dinner. That was the thing all of us adults were dreading, 15 hours on the bus with the young kids. Ugh.

It ended up being not too bad, actually. After a mini-melt down at the dinner stop (pre-packaged sandwiches and a coffee vending machine), we got back on the bus, watched a movie on the greatest kid entertaining invention ever, the iPad, slipped half a melatonin in some late night pudding and off to sleep. The son slept, my husband and I took turns with the little sweat machine all night and nodded off for a few hours each.

We stepped off the bus at about 1300 in Lloret de Mar , Spain, to rooms that were ready for us to dump our gear, grab some lunch and go exploring. Our "resort" was nothing fancy, and has officially turned my husband off to "all inclusive" offers of anything more than including the breakfast, but it really wasn't bad. We did save some money, having pre-paid in January for our dinners, and we ate there most nights because it was easier for us with our son.

The first day we walked down to the beach and checked out the Mediterranean Sea and found out that these beaches have sand the way most Atlantic Coast beaches have sand, glorified gravel. Not comfy on the bare feet, but heck, we were at the Mediterranean Sea! The little boys got to run in and out of the surf, climb rocks and finally talk in outside voices. The adults and kids got to walk the staircase up to the statue dedicated to sailors' wives. After the beautiful views from there, we hiked the coastline a little more until we found a lovely little place for gelatto and sangria. What a great first day!

Another day we had a planned excursion to Marineland that was just down the road from Lloret de Mar. The park was barely open, and most of the extra people working there were slightly irritable. The animal trainers were happy to have us there to practice their shows, birds, sea lions and dolphins, and the kids loved it. This being our first big vacation with our son, him being happy made us happy, so that was all that counted. The water park side was still closed and it was way too cold to have enjoyed that anyway. Our tour group had the place to ourselves, and the guides from SHAPE Trips and Tours listened to our pleas to shorten our day there so we could go back to the hotel and to more exploring from there.

The next free day that we had, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and hiked way up the coast to see what we could see. Even with sunscreen, we got a bit pink, but nothing horrible. All three of us got some exercise and we treated ourselves to more gelatto.

Spring Break blog will be continued soon.....