The Keukenhof was only open until Sunday, May 21st so I got myself a ticket and decided to go on Saturday. It was more of an adventure to find than I was led to believe from the website. According to the website, one simply takes bus #197 from the center to bus #858 and you’re there! I concluded that the center was just outside the central train station (which I knew how to get to) and set off. I got to the metro when I realized I hadn’t noted the names of the busses I was supposed to take. For reasons that are entirely my fault, I seem to only be able to connect to wifi with my phone at the hostel (but not any of the cafes or attractions that advertise free wifi). So I went back, got the names of the buses from the website, walked to the metro, and took the metro to the train station. No bus 197. I went to information where the man told me I would have to take the tram to the center– tram 2 or 5 to Leidseplein. I found the train where every couple of minutes an announcement was made to remember to stamp your ticket when you leave the train. I listened for Leidseplein and when I heard it I got off without stamping my ticket. I was surrounded by footpaths and canals but no streets with busses. I found a map by the tram stop and could see where I was and a box that had 197 on it, but after walking several blocks in several directions, I could not find a bus stop. I went into a ticket shop to ask directions and the lady begrudgingly set me straight– I was only about 3 blocks away. It started pouring rain as I found the bus station! The bus approached, and the driver told me this bus was heading in the wrong direction. I crossed the street and finally got on the right bus. Because it was the final weekend (I’m assuming), I stood in line for about an hour to get on bus 858. This is why it took me 3 hours to get to the Keukenhof. I threw myself a mini pity party, took myself to lunch and decided that next time I left the hostel abandoning my internet access, I would have much more specific directions on how to get where I was going.
I thought of Wendy and her Garden club as I wandered around the flowers.
I loved watching all the girls posing the same way– they would walk down the path and then just turn their head around to face the photographer. Or they would lay in the flowers so you could just see their face among the blooms
These steps were so much fun to walk on
