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Ruby Khan, am thankful
to you for helping me revisit Holland’s Keukenhof in full bloom!
Summer of
2004!
Elsie Gabriel
Intellectually
vivacious and dynamic, Ruby Khan, known her for almost 18 years, is like a
second daughter to me. A young lady now whom am very proud of, to say the
least. Well now she is a world citizen, literally! Having a fantastic record of
studying worldwide, Boston, Massachusetts,Yunnan University ,Class of 2012 · Chinese · Kunming Shi,
Yunnan, China and Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts.Recently she shared with me pictures of the Worlds largest flower garden in Holland, which brought back so many beautiful colourful memories of the thousands of Tulips at the Keukenhof, which I had visited almost ten years ago or more.
I
thank Ruby for bringing these pictures alive once again for me to enjoy through
her recent visit and beautiful eyes! Being a nature enthusiast and outdoor addict,I simply couldn’t resist writing about it.
Ahhh what a joy to re-live stunning moments through appreciative souls like
you!
Well
if must know the year 2015 is a vital milestone date for the Dutch, Tulip
gardens, as it is exactly 125 years since the death of Vincent van Gogh. This moment was seized
by Keukenhof to honour the famous Dutch artist. This season there is a great
deal that links Van Gogh and Keukenhof. Willem van Gogh, a relative of Vincent van Gogh,
officially opened the 66th edition of Keukenhof today. This year is
the Van Gogh year at Keukenhof. The most beautiful spring garden in the world
is open from Friday 20 March up to and including Sunday 17 May. Keukenhof is
already in full bloom.
The highlight of the
Van Gogh year is a flower bulb mosaic of Vincent van Gogh covering an area of
250m2 and made up of thousands of tulips. The flower shows display wonderful
combinations of thousands of tulips and his paintings. this year specially there is a
lovely new Selfie garden inspired by the self-portraits of Van Gogh in a
modern setting. Even 125 years after his death Van Gogh is still inspiring
plenty of people.
Says Ruby, “It's the biggest flower garden
in the world and true to Dutch culture it's remarkable but not ostentatious.It's
very well planned -- the paths across the flower fields are big enough to not
run into the thousands of tourists it attracts everyday but it's small enough
for you to feel intimate with the beautiful flowers around you. There are
cafe's and open spaces for adults and a petting zoo and park for children, if
you need a break from all the walking. "
Adds Ruby further describing details of how
one could reach there, “One should definitely plan on visiting this garden
when the weather's nice out because I don't think one can take in the beauty
of the garden when it's raining out. You can buy tickets directly from their
official website. There's a shuttle that picks you up and drops you off
to/from Schipol AMS Airport and Keukenhof. That shuttle leaves every 5 mins
from the Schipol airport.”
Keukenhof has reached
a new record with 1.175.000 visitors in 2015. 2015 is the second consecutive
year that Keukenhof has attracted more than 1 million visitors. The
beautiful, cool spring enabled the flowers to bloom for the complete 8 weeks.
The large number of visitors is the result of the publicity around the Van
Gogh theme and the increasing popularity of Keukenhof by Americans, Germans,
Chinese and visitors from South-East Asia. The average age of the visitors
was noticeably lower than in previous years. More Dutch families have visited
Keukenhof this year mainly because of all the new events and extra children’s
activities.
Ruby Khan,am thankful
to you for helping me revisit Holland’s Keukenhof in full bloom! Summer of
2004!
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