Friday, April 06, 2018

To the Dutch bulb fields at kuerkenhof

Needles to say Noel was little slow of the ground this morning and having been up pretty much all night decided to have a small lie in whilst Jennifer went for breakfast.
We left the Hotel at about 10.40 and took the direct route to the Kuekenhof Gardens where we arrived at 11.10 and already the place was buzzing with loads of coaches and cars.There were
lots of tour parties from all over the globe and quite a few of 'follow the flag' groups as well.
The gardens are quite extensive and cover a large area and so what with Noel's knee problems and perhaps not being apple to last out for the day we had pre-arranged the hire of a invalid electric car which came in most useful as it meant that noel could cover all the park without having to worry about knees and stopping frequently.
We spent about three hours in and around the park and it is well organised with lots of bars and restaurants and ice cream places . We first went to overlook the growing fields and the colours of the tulips were quite amazing and so beautiful when you see so many at the same time. The park was very busy indeed and its strange that whilst I have never driven or used a electric wheelchair type thing people just ignore you and walk directly in front of you and stand up close to the wheels as though I did not exist, This I found very strange because I have always given space and right of way to people in these contraptions.



There was lots of art all over the place and of course the usual large cows and also elephants as well and I thought they would look good in our garden.
Following a  light lunch we departed and drove across some fields (on the road of course) by passing more and more tulips and then we ended up by the coast which we drove around for a while and then back to look at Leiden which is a big university city  and then via some back roads where we came across a couple of old barges, pone had been converted in to a historic museum and the other in to a back packers establishment.
Following a tour of Leiden we returned to the Hotel to re assess our plans for the next few days as we leave for delft tomorrow which is not far away, about an hour or so, and so we shall take the slow route. We had thought of forgetting delft but it was to late to cancel the Hotel but that's not a problem as the weather for this weekend is supposed to be very good indeed compared to the 9 degrees Centigrade and a very strong chill wind.
We shall go down and eat again in the Hotel rather than trail around and although there some good restaurant in this town it is vital that Noel does not have another night like last night.
I took a lot of photos today of the bulb fields and other stuff but it would take ages to upload them from the Hotel and so I will load all photos when I get home.
Bi for now