Easter Break | Keukenhof Gardens

Assalamualaikum...

its a must if you come to Amsterdam during spring to come and visit Keukenhof for its Tulips! Tulips only bloom during the summer in certain part of the world and Holland is one of the well known country for its Tulip during spring...

our plan for the next morning was to Keukenhof

  

we woke up quite early and took some photos of the beautiful scenery at our accommodation area...Subhanallah...

then we continue our journey to Keukenhof which took only 30 minutes from our accommodation....we reached there around 9.30am

there were only one full row of cars and buses at the car park area...so thankful that there were not so many people when we arrived...haha

the first photo with Tulip ^_^v (my profile pix for the blog as well...hee~)

check out the scenery inside...

its so unfortunate for us because that was not the optimal time for the Tulip to bloom...most of the Tulips were still in budding form when we came -_-"

the optimal time where the tulips will reach full blossom is between late of April to middle of May

since the flowers at the park mostly still in the buddy form, there is one building called Willem-Alexander building where they showcase variety of flowers which of course Tulip were the most abundant :D

  

we then have a quick snack just outside this building with the windmill as the background

finish eating, we went up the windmill...its free!!!

  

the windmill was built on 4th April 1957...the year of Malaysia independence day :D

wefie picture is a must! we conquer the windmill...haha...

we then walk around the park...there is small boat cruise that you can try along the river that opens in May...since its so romantic, we took the picture on the boat! looks like in Venice...haha

and there is lots of decoration using the different kind of lowers...just amazing and so colourful~

and a small petting zoo with sheeps, goats, peacock, chicken and of course piglets!

the park is huge...since we don't have much time since we were rushing to go to another place, we didn't cover the whole park...maybe you need one whole day if you are not rushing and take your own sweet time to cover the whole park...

there are lots of souvenir shops here as well...as we were walking back to our car, we stop buy at a flower shop...they sell numerous different types of flowers either it be the full bloom flowers or the seeds...so me and my bestie go for 2 pots of Tulips seeds with each 5 seeds inside the pot...we bought 2 different colours; white and purple with Euro5...according to the owner of the shop, it will bloom next year during spring but, the flower already full bloom last May during my master graduation! haha...but I was so sad because I didn't take the full bloom Tulips since I was busy with my mom and my bestie family during their visits to London -_-" they were sooo beautiful~  

Bye~^_^v

Easter Break | Amsterdam Trip Part 1

Assalamualaikum...

last Easter Break which falls on the early April me, my bestie and 2 of my friends decided to go to a trip to Netherlands and Belgium for 4D3N...this is the first trip that I have ever planned in advance for almost a month! there should be more than 4 people but somehow 2 of my friends can't make it due to visa reason and another one just can't make it :(

our plan was to go to Brussels first, hire a car and drive to Netherlands and come back to Brussels and exit to London...so we took Eurostar train from St. Pancras to Brussels...my nightmare everytime I went for a trip happens during this time! we didn't make it before the time of boarding...we should be there half-hour before departure for check-in since we need to go thru custom as this is international train, the rules apply same as those with flight...but luckily, one of my friend managed to change the ticket time to a later one...

on the train, we met this Korean uncle named Donggel Li...he suddenly ask me where are we from since I was sitting at the aisle and he was sitting in front of me...starting from that point, he chats with us because he said that 2 hours journey will be so boring and thats so true tho...but since I just came back from San Francisco on the 30th March and we start our trip on the 2nd of April I was still having my jetlag, I doz off in the middle of the chat...when I woke up, we were almost there :D

this is the friendly Korean uncle! ^_^v

at the station itself, we rent a car from Europcar company to go to Brussels which is much more cheaper if you are travelling in a large group...another incident happened here when my bestie didn't bring her previous driving license card...it doesn't mentioned beforehand in the Europcar website that the driving license should be more than one year! arrghh...fortunately that I brought my previous driving license card since 2010...haha...so we just need to change the booking from my bestie's name to mine...Alhamdulillah...

I was already bear in mind that the road will be as apposite as in Malaysia and UK, but the moment I step in the car, I was nervous to start the engine...my leg were shaking! haha...

  

we start the journey smoothly...

  

  

  

  

  

we went thru beautiful houses, churches, lakes, trees that looks like whomping willow trees in Harry Potter :) few animals such as deer, horses and top of that we even went thru a bridge that looks like Penang bridge! lol

  

after such a long journey, we stop a while to eat..we found this since there are chairs and table for us to set up a mini picnic, but once we got out from the car, the wind was blowing crazily...so we end up eating in the car -_-'

we continue our journey until...

  

we found a dead end! we were shocked as there were no other way, it seems like we need to go thru the river...I have been suspicious along the way as we didn't reach the motorway/highway after almost 3 hours...and then this??? 

to convince me that we didn't lost, so I open my GPS using my phone and thats the only way for us to cross over the river and actually this is one of the route as mentioned in the Google Map...

fortunately the ferry ride is cheap...just Euro 2.35...pfftt~~

once we cross the river, I opened back the navi system and then I realised something!!! it was set up as "avoid motorway"arggghhh no wonder...so guys, if you hired a car next time, make sure the first thing you do is check the navigation set up! this might be set up from the previous renter -_-"

then after that we enter highway and straight to our accommodation...we reached our accommodation around 6.30pm...a 3 hours journey become 6 hours~ but I am satisfied because if not due to the faulty set up of the navigation, we wouldnt see the beautiful side of the villages here =D

sneak peak of our accommodation ^_*

will tell you more about this accommodation...highly recommended!!!! thumbs up! >.<

after prayer and freshen up a bit, we decided to go to the city for a while...we park our car at Park and Ride or they call it as P&R which is just 6 minutes away from our accommodation...its so convenient to travel and thats one of their way to avoid tourist cars in the city...I just love the idea :)

just 4 stations away from the P&R to the central station approx around 10 minutes ride by the train

this is Amsterdam Central Station, the centre for metro, interrail and international trains...since me and my bestie haven't change the money yet, so we decided to do it here...we went to one of the exchange money counter inside the station, the staff was so playful and funny to us...but he did helped us when he said that its better if we cash out the money using the ATM machine that situated just around the corner rather than using their service because there will be Euro5 and 3% charge...tq sir! :-*

then we took a train to the "I amsterdam" sign which is the must-visit-place if you come to Amsterdam

we took some photo and then we headed back to our accommodation...need some rest to continue our exploration on the next day~

Bye~^_^v