It started when we met by accident. Initially, squeezed into a small elevator. And later, outside on our hotel’s sidewalk terrace. He asked if he and his lady could slip into the free table next to us.

“Sure”, I said.

“Thanks”, he muttered.

As they sat down, I asked, “So, where are you from?”

“’Holland”.

In a frisky mood that morning, I sighed loudly, then turned to Louise. 

“Ah crap, honey, not the Dutch!”

My “complaint” got the intended result, and a small smile broke out.

And that is how, in Moraira Spain, we got to meet Rinus and Carla, and how six months later we got to see tulips bloom across Holland.

We stayed in touch through the winter, and when our scheduled springtime return to Spain fell through, our Dutch friends wrote, “Why not come to Holland instead? Visit the tulip festival and see the parade from our home?”.  

Well …. why not, indeed! And we did.

Rinus and Carla were incredibly gracious hosts. He took the week off work to be our tour guide each day. He drove us to every notable nook in his small, beautiful and prosperous country. We fought wind and rain, traveled north and south, east and west, so much that even we started to feel familiar with the Lowlands landmarks.  

Despite the downpours, we felt blessed. With one exception (which was an indoor museum anyway), the clouds parted and the sun shone most every time we stepped out of the car to behold the iconic flowers, wind mills, dikes and towns and cities that make the Netherlands famous. And in the evenings, Rinus and Carla brought us home for delicious Dutch dinners, including a favorite dish (below right) with the odd name of Brussels Loaf.

Eight days in beautiful Holland, with these fine people, was the gift of a lifetime!

So, this is a lead-off report, with more to come. Focusing on the time-sensitive Amsterdam Tulip Festival, the photos concentrate primarily on the Keukenhof Gardens southwest of the city. The flower show continues until May 12 this year. But if you love tulips, (and who doesn’t?) even a drive into the country will bring you face-to-face with a smorgasbord of these colorful blossoms because tulips are farmed as a crop for export, both as flowers and bulbs, and can be seen from the road through the spring greenery. Enjoy these photos, and then …

… join us to watch the Tulip Parade from our hosts’ balcony.