pictures

exhausted

Well today was another whirlwind day of shooting. We hope to get the good pics up soon after we get home. It was a 430 am wake up and we didn't get back until well after 1030 then had to work on photos until 100 am. It was an early morning pre-opening trip back to the Keukenhof, then some more cycling through the flower fields followed by a visit to Delft and a trip to Kinderdik to see water level control windmills. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and was very interesting. But we don't have time to post much. So here is a picture of a flower.

North Sea

We went back to the beach today and despite the fact it was freezing, many of us decided we needed to experience the North Sea nipping at our feet.

photo by Charles Boyajian

Oh and this is us in the dutch hats from an earlier post...you decide...do we look a little silly?

Flying over the flower fields

This morning it was tulips by air. We flew over the flower fields in the north part of Holland.

you look a little silly

So we visited a traditional fishing village today and Mirjam convinced us to pose in in some traditional dutch girl hats. It was funny enough but got even funnier when a local gentleman rode by on a bicycle and very politely said, "you look a little silly". This isn't us, but this is the hat!

Trying to keep up

This has been quite the whirlwind trip. Yesterday started with a visit to the Alkmaar Cheese Market where Ruthie got to "run the cheese". Then off to see some of Holland's famous windmills and a boat tour. Next up, a walking tour of Amsterdam and another boat ride through the canals. Lastly, back to the hotel for the daily "debrief". More later if Mirjam gives us a break, but really don't anticipate that will be the case.

A Day at the Beach

We have been learning a lot of interesting things about Holland. The other day we went to the beach where they are just getting ready for the season. The seas get very rough in the winter so there are restrictions on building. All of the buildings (except three that were grandfathered) have to be torn down and rebuilt every year. So in addition to big buildings like restaurants that are torn down every year, there are hundreds of little temporary beach houses that get pulled up.

the gardens

The tulip gardens are amazing, here are just a few pics.

Down on the Farm

Today was all about the tulips! We went to the famous Keukenhof gardens and will have many pictures to post, we just have to pick them out of the hundreds we took! We had private access to the gardens for two hours before it opened to the public. We stayed after it opened for a few hours taking pictures of orchids, lilies, and more tulips.


Then when we rented bikes and went rinding around the flower fields before heading off to some flower farms.



The farmers were very generous with their time and even sent us home with some fresh from the fields tulips. As you can see the view was spectacular.



Oh yeah, this is Erik our tulip farmer.

dodging bicycles and police

Shortly after arrival we met our new friend and fellow photo quester Dan, who arrived at the airport cafe under police escort. They were the friendliest police we ever met because they escorted him out to the coffee shop (where you get coffee) to tell us he was here and being detained for a bit. And they thought we would be the troublemakers.

But the Netherlands have more hazards for us to discover, one of the biggest ones is that bicycles have the right of way over pedestrians and there are more than a few of them.

Made it to the land of tulips

And we're off......again

Ok, so I'm not exactly "off". But tomorrow Ruthie and I begin our next off continent adventure. We've had many trips between Antarctica and now including two trips to Vegas, two ski trips (ok, one ski trip and one snow boarding trip--that's right), San Diego and Chicago. Somehow, friends are having a hard time keeping up with our whereabouts.
So here we are at jetsisters.blogspot.com. I can't imagine any of our adventures will ever compare to Antarctica, but we'll do our best to keep you posted.