Saturday, May 17, 2014

Tulips, Tea, Weddings and The Paris Flea Market

This is my cousin/sister in love, Lee.  I have been pumping her on my bicycle, playing the Barbie game and fixing her hair since my family moved to Texas in 1962.  Our grandmother Knight had five sons so with seven grandsons we were quite the attraction to her.  Lee's sister Amy was born when Lee was eight so there are now three of us just like Granny, Aunt Ruth and Aunt Delpha Perilee... who we simply called Aunt Dell.  In 2001 Lee and her three daughters accompanied me to London.  We've done New York, Sea Island, the Redneck Riviera, California, Colorado and last summer our husbands did an African Safari together.  So suffice to say, we have a good time wherever we go.  And this trip was no exception!

Europe was all we anticipated and more. As is almost always the case, our weather was like a trip back in seasonal time from Houston. We had a good bit of rain but no soakers. And most days were just perfect.
Holland was wonderful, exactly has we had expected. From the windmills to the bicycles to the
 incredible display of more tulips than one could imagine. Who knew flowers could make us so happy!
Our first night was spent away from Amsterdam in a lovely Manor House 
surrounded by formal gardens-the only kind to have!
I love Old World and all of Europe seems to be this...a trip back in time as it were.

I asked our tour guide, Emme, why we did not see that many bicycles in other European countries.  "Because Holland is flat and we are cheap!"  Emme also told us almost all the wars of Europe were fought in the Netherlands.
We all got excited when we realized there was a wedding being photographed while we were there complete with this Rolls Royse and this most stunning bride.
But what we all looked forward to were the Tulips... as far as the eye could see.  Did you know that Tulips are actually onions?  Makes a lot of sense when you think about it.
       Most of our group chose to make their picture amid the beauty. But I just went nuts photographing the beauty.
      Below you will see the Ruffle Tulips.
     The name of the gardens is called Keukenhof - think the Disney World of flowers.
             There are places to stop for lunch, undulating mounds of flowers and places to buy your tulips.
  If I had to pick my favorite it would be *between these next two shots. Purple so deep it appears to be black...

and this shot of the reds against the violet which to me was pure Monet, n'est pas?
I don't have a shot of the tour buses lined up where we parked ours but it was impressive.  They went on and on.
It touched my heart as Lee and I sat eating our lunch to see just how many senior folks from ,I assume nearby Assisted Living communities, were being pushed in wheelchairs through the gardens.

Matthew 26:28-30 28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?



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