Amsterdam - Sunday, April 19th

This post was our first day of riding.  I managed to write about Monday's ride before this one.  Sorry, I'm out of order. 

Day One Ride.

We're "biked" up and ready.

Finally, the day has arrived.  The bike trip from Amsterdam to Bruges begins today.  We met the Butterfield Robinson staff this morning and loaded up in a bus for the short trip to a tulip farm for a quick tour before getting set up on our bikes.  

Tulips harvested to go to market

The tulip farm was very interesting.  I learned some interesting things about the tulip industry.  Number 1.  There are 1100 different varieties of tulips.   Number two, I couldn't figure out why Tulips were bloomed in the fields.  When I buy them at the flower shop, they are not opened up.  Well, the mystery was solved.  Tulip fields that are  bloomed are being raised ONLY for their bulbs.  The bulbs we buy when we want to plant Tulips in our gardens.  After they bloom, the flowers are cut off and the bulbs are harvested.  The Tulips we buy at the florist are grown only in green houses.  They are harvested before they bloom, packed and sent to auction and shipped to the flower shops within a matter of days. 

Sisters, Karen and Susie

We left the tulip farm on our bikes and rode through Tulip country, where the fields are accented with the colors of fully bloomed Tulips and Hyacinth.  Yellow, red, deep purple, orange, pink.  A rainbow of color.  We also passed fields of Jonquils. The fragrance was lovely.

Front row, Stevie, Julie and Ellen.  Back row, Susie, Susie and Karen at Keukenhof Gardens.

Our next stop was only a few miles away at Keukenhof Gardens.   Never have I seen such beautifully manicured gardens.  Open only 8 weeks out of the year, the gardens are brand new every year.  On May 19th, the gardens close and will be totally dug up.  Then, preparations for the next year's garden begins.  Sponsored by over 100 companies, seven million bulbs are planted by 40 workers across the 75 acre garden.  Because the trees shade the grass and prevent it from thriving, they also re-seed the lawns.  Over 800,000 people visit the gardens during this 8 week period.  Following are a few photos from the gardens.  They don't do it justice, but perhaps you can get an idea of how beautiful it is.

The gardens are stunning.

After the garden tour, we set off to Dever's castle for lunch.  On the way ... "Woman Down!"  Susie was busy sightseeing and didn't see a curb that ran alongside the bike path.  

Soaked and Freezing, Susie saddled up again and we were soon off.

She took a tumble from the bike.  She gets a perfect 10 for her fall, which was well rounded and graceful.  But she got more points for landing in the canal that ran alongside the bike path.   We affectionately refer to this as "Susie's Swan Dive" because she was looking back at a swan made of flowers when she ran into a curb which caused her fall.  This wouldn't be such a bad thing in Florida where it's warm, but it was a chilly morning in Holland and Susie was soaked to the bone with stagnate, dirty canal water.  

Lunch at Dever Castle

Wet, cold and a few scratches later, we arrived at the restored Dever Castle for lunch.

Susie and Mr. Dever

The owner of the castle saw how wet and cold Susie was and immediately went home returning with an orange wind breaker for Susie to wear for the rest of the ride.  For the most part, the Dutch are a friendly, warm hearted people.  It was such a kind thing to do.

Shortly after our group left the gardens, Stevie was held up by a high speed train.  Then a truck dropped a load of bricks in front of her.  As a result, she fell so far behind, she decided to load up in the chase van.  

New Butterfield & Robinson Assistant.

We missed Stevie, but she caught up with us later at lunch and for coffee.  

After lunch, we entered "The Dunes" alongside the sea shore.  The dunes were beautiful with rolling hills through the sandy terrain.  The Dunes were perhaps a little more hilly than we were prepared for, so after we stopped at the Hotel/Restaurant Duinoord for afternoon coffee and tea, Ellen and a still wet Susie decided to take a taxi to the hotel in Den Haag.  I continued on and covered 26.8 miles before reaching the Hotel Des Indes.  Sure was a happy sight.

Ice Packs for the Bruised Girls

After checking in to the hotel, Ellen fell when getting out of the bathtub.  Poor thing is bruised and sore.  Between Susie's canal fall and Ellen's bathtub fall, Stevie and I felt like we were traveling with the walking wounded.  I hope their bruises heal quickly.

That evening, we had a very nice dinner at the hotel when I finally made it back to my room, I was so tired, all I could do was drop into bed.  That's why my blog has been slow getting out.  So sorry.  Tomorrow, we ride to Leiden.