Venture Finley: Keukenhof, The Hague Holland/St Vith Belgium

A few days after we got back from Turkey, Daniel drove to Frankfurt Hahn Airport to pick up Marylou and Jim for a Spring time visit!

One of the biggest things on my bucket list and places to see while living here are the tulips in Holland in the Spring. Keukenhof is one of the largest flower gardens in the world. It has over 7 million flower bulbs and covers almost 79 acres! The absolute best time to see the tulips is in April.

The kid's favorite part of the gardens were its playground, petting zoo, and tree maze. The highlights of the visit were Liam's chicken round-up, Rowan getting head butted by a goat, and Patrick seeing the pigs mate. Liam could not stop chasing the chickens. He was actually really good at it and not afraid to get down and grab them. He asked one of the attendants if he could keep the chickens he caught. She said, "No, the chickens live here." Since our trip he has not stopped asking for a pet chicken. Rowan went in for a photo op with a goat and the thing turned around and head butted her! Patrick went over to check out the pigs and got a first person view on how piglets are made. We also all tried the fresh herring. It is all locally caught and served raw with onions. It is delicious!

The tulip fields that dot the country side along the North Sea are absolutely incredible. It looks like someone spray painted brightly colored lines along the countryside.

Marylou and Jim made this 5 hour journey with us. We spent the night about 45 minutes south in the capital of Holland, The Hague. From what I have read, some of the most prosperous as well as some of the poorest neighborhoods in The Netherlands can be found in The Hague.

We ate dinner in at a local seafood stand down by the beach. The best part of the meal was the sunset on the beach. The food was all deep fried and to be honest, we have all had much better! The freezing wind was whipping off the Atlantic, however from the car it was a beautiful night with an incredible sunset.

The next morning we all piled in the car and headed home. We took our time.

Our first stop was at The Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial. Here lies the soldiers that helped liberate The Netherlands in 1944-1945.

It was a gorgeous Spring day so we decided after our drive through the Ardennes Forest in Belgium to make a pit stop in St. Vith Belgium. St Vith is a medieval town at one time was part of Luxembourg. It was almost completely destroyed during World War II. We had a wonderful meal at an outdoor cafe before heading home to home sweet Weilerbach!