So, we made a quick trip to Amsterdam this weekend just to see the tulips. It was quite an adventure.
Our flight was at 7 am, so that meant we needed to be on the 5 am train to the airport. We got up at 3:30 and out of the hotel in Hamburg around 4:40. There were quite a lot of people out and going still, most of them still drunk or still drinking. Any other time I've stayed the weekend and got up and going by 7 am, the town is deserted! So, we got on the flight and slept the entire way to Amsterdam. We headed to the hotel and they actually had our room already ready, so we went and took a nap! We woke up and headed into Amsterdam and went to Hard Rock for lunch!! Then, back to the hotel. Time to see the tulips!!
We asked the receptionist when the shuttle was going to the airport, as we could catch the bus to Keukenhof (where the tulips are at) from there. The NICE lady said, "I'll call you a taxi instead, it will be faster (30-45 min rather than 1 hr and 45 min) and cheaper (55 EUR total instead of 5 shuttle ride +21 bus and entrance EUR - just looked it up right now)". We weren't sure, but she convinced us since we would only have about 4 hours to walk around at that point in time. So, the taxi arrives and we are on our way. We get to about 5-10 minutes away and the police have the roads blocked off. At this point the price of the taxi is just about the same price for the shuttle/bus/entry ticket. So, the driver just starts driving around and pulls out his GPS unit because he's not entirely sure on how to get there any other way. The meter is STILL going. OH MY!! We drive and drive and get to a tiny town and the traffic basically stops, but we keep going and going. 80 EUR later, we are stopped and the local town people finally tell us we can't get any further because it is the FLOWER PARADE and you can't drive to the tulip fields this afternoon. It has now been 1 hour since we left the hotel. We now have to walk 5 kilometers (3.1 miles per Gene) to get there. And, we realized that where the cops had the road blocked off was about a 5 kilometer walk too...so we could have gotten out there and saved a TON of money.
The only nice thing about the walk was seeing the parade, since we walked the entire parade route. Quite an interesting parade. We expected it to be like the Rose Bowl parade, but there were many "floats" that had FTD bouquets tie straped to the tops, sides, fronts of the vehicles. Then, they did have many floats made entirely out of flowers. Oh, and I did get to see a "beach" of sand, as they had road construction and had sand everywhere along the parade route.
We finally arrive at Keukenhof at 5 pm, 2 hours later.
But, I do think it was worth it. We got to see lots of pretty flower displays and walked around for 2 hours. :) Got some great pictures, too!
The park was starting to close, so we figured we better catch the bus back to the airport and go get dinner in Amsterdam. We got in line at about 7:15 pm. The line was WORSE than Six Flags when a new ride opens. But, we had two bands to keep us entertained!!!! We got onto the bus at 8:45 pm. We arrived at the airport at 9 pm and then back to Amsterdam Central Station. We went to a Japanese typanaki grill. YUMMY!! Then walked around the Dam Square, where they had fair rides, games and food. Back to the hotel at midnight and hit the bed!!
The next day, we caught the shuttle back to the airport around noon. Funny....the taxi driver is also the shuttle driver for the hotel. NICE!!! SCAM!!! Oh well...we learned our lesson on that!
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