A friend of mine introduced me to the Keukenhof Gardens. She has photos of this beautiful paradise all over her home, and in a photo album she keeps on her coffee table. Her name is Yvonne and she grew up in Holland. Her home is decorated with vases of colorful tulips because they remind her of her homeland.
Yvonne is slipping away from us, preparing to travel a different path, one we’ll all take eventually. I have a feeling that this is the one she’ll find herself on when the time comes. And then she’ll be home again. Home again…
I’ve been to Keukenhof a dozen times with my wife, while we were living in Brussels. I have hundreds of pics over several years.
Keukenhof means “kitchen gardens”, alluding to the property of ‘the house’ that the kitchen uses to keep small livestock and grow vegetables. It was a big house, of course, of a wealthy landowner, and when the last generation of them died, it was left to the Dutch government in the late 1940s to be kept as a monument.
I”m told they plant over 6 million bulbs every year. It is astonishing. Hard to take good photos on weekends, but if you live there and can go on a Thursday in late April, you have it to yourself. 🙂
The trip from Brussels was harrowing, as the Dutch freeways are always under construction and narrow lanes put you almost in contact with gigantic trucks for the entirety of the trip.
But it was always worth going. One of the most beautiful places in the world, period.
Thank you for the explanation of the Keukenhof name. I didn’t know that!
Andrea, I didn’t mean to be so relentlessly light hearted in a thread that is lovingly dedicated to one who is leaving us, and I apologize for the way it came out. Keukenhof is such a lovely place and I was distracted by my own memories of it.. forgive me.
No apology necessary. The Garden is quite stunning, and the post was meant to celebrate her life in the best way I know — in beauty. It’s how I imagine heaven might look. I’m glad it evoked happy memories for you. I know it does for her.