Keukenhof and the Neyrand-Rouxs

Ruby wanted to go to Spain for Holy Week as her senior trip. It's one of those things that seems unlikely to happen, until it does.  Back in October, we found insanely cheap airfare to either Paris or Amsterdam. The flights were $360 round trip!!  We chose Amsterdam because Scott had never been there, and it was prime tulip season. Who doesn't dream of seeing the Dutch tulip fields? Ironically, Ruby just spent spring break in Holland last year with the Brinkers, so she got to experience some of the things twice. But anyway, the time came and we embarked, leaving a whole bunch of sad kids behind. I wish we could have brought all of them, but it was time to focus on Ruby.

Our flight got into Amsterdam at 9 am, and we caught a bus to Keukenhof right off the plane. The gardens were incredible. I mean incredible. Keukenhof is only open 7 weeks a year, so we were very fortunate in our timing. We were in awe.

My favorite were the hyacinths, and there were many. My anthem is a poem my dad taught me when I was little:

"If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft
And of thy store two loaves are left
Sell one wand with the dough
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul."

The pursuit of beauty is what makes us human, and at the same time, what reminds us that we are eternal spirits.

After Keukenhof, we bussed back to the airport and then on to the city. We met up with Genevieve, Hubert and Chloe at our hotel, which Genevieve had kindly searched out for us. She chose a beautiful hotel an a great location. We explored the streets and canals and caught up on life since we last saw each other in Rome a year and a half ago.

Our two girls

The cheese museum had lots of delicious samples, and not one was, shall we say, as challenging as some of the French cheeses. We're not strong enough for those!

We found this restaurant, and it was just as quaint as we could have asked for. The service was super slow, but everything else about it was superb. Things happen at a slower pace in Europe where food is involved. It's a process.

Aren't they elegant!