Keukenhof Tulip Festival

April 30, 2012 by Andrea 4 Comments

Keukenhof is the home of the Netherlands’ annual flower festival and the most well known tulip festival in the world. Located just south of Amsterdam in the small town of Lisse, it’s a fun day trip from the capital for flower and garden enthusiasts.

Keukenhof has always been a dream destination for me and I was overwhelmed by the stunning flower displays when I visited in early April. Early spring sees mostly hyacinths and daffodils in flower but there were 1000s of early flowering tulips on display too.

Hyacinths are one of my favourite flowers and you can pick up their sweet smelling scent as it wafts throughout the gardens. If you love hyacinths, be sure to visit Keukenhof early in the season.

Hyacinths are great but the main attractions are the tulips gardens. There were mass displays of mixed colours and many smaller plantings too. All were beautiful.

More tulips will be in flower in the outdoor beds as the season progresses but the massive indoor tulip pavilion has every tulip colour and shape imaginable all festival long.

These feathered tulips were so pretty and one of my favourites.

You can also see the much sought after black tulip.

I was surprised to see there is also an indoor pavilion for orchids. I have never seen such variety before. If only I could grow these myself somehow.

It goes without saying I took an awful lot of photos so here are a couple more of my favourites.

How to Get There

Keukenhof is located near Lisse, not from from Amsterdam to the north and Leiden to the south. Buses run regularly from Amsterdam and Leiden or if driving there is plenty of parking at the event.

Where to Stay

I stayed in Lisse at the modern Hotel de Duif for the convenience of being able to walk to the gardens. Many visitors choose to stay in Amsterdam or Leiden and then do a day trip to Keukenhof.

When to Visit

The Keukenhof flower festival is open from the 22nd March til 20th May in 2012. Check the Keukenhof site for 2013 dates. I would recommend visiting in early April to avoid the crowds and to see the hyacinths and daffodils or late April til early May for the chance of better weather and to see more of the outdoor tulip displays. No matter when you visit there will always be 1000s of flowering bulbs throughout Holland’s Keukenhof gardens.

Filed Under: Netherlands Tagged With: festivals, keukenhof, lisse, netherlands

Tollwood Winter Festival

January 6, 2012 by Andrea Leave a Comment

The Tollwood Winter Festival is promoted as an ‘alternative’ festival in Munich but judging by the crowds I’d say it’s actually pretty mainstream. Along with having a huge Christmas market, there are all kinds of events and activities and a special New Year’s Eve celebration.

Most of the stalls around the grounds are similar to what you find at the many other Christmas markets around Munich. There’s lots of handmade ornaments, cooking utensils, clothing and of course plenty of mulled wine, bratwurst and international specialities like the Hungarian langos.

Once I’d had my fill of wine, food and snowy weather, I headed inside some of the tents. The first one I came across was very artsy, there was even a woman chiselling away at a hunk of wood producing her art in our presence.

I couldn’t quite make out what these tins are for. Plants in a tin? Four leaf clover gifts? Why?

There was an international food hall and not the crappy shopping centre kind but one with food stalls with actual decent food. Thai, Japanese, Turkish and a few other cuisines were represented. The other tents had entertainment like circus performances and acrobatic shows.

The festival is held at Theresienwiese which is where the annual Oktoberfest takes place. While you are there you may as well head over to check out the gigantic Bavaria statue which represents Bavaria’s strength and glory.

Where to Stay

If you plan on spending a few days in Munich to visit the festival and the rest of the city, I recommend staying in a hotel near the train stain stain. This location is easy walking distance to the festival grounds as well as the Old Town and the museum quarter. On this trip I stayed at the very modern Schiller5 Hotel and would definitely recommend staying there.

Tollwood Festival

If you weren’t able to make the Tollwood Winter Festival this year, there is a summer version held in July which should be well worth a visit.

Filed Under: Germany Tagged With: festivals, Germany, Munich

Pearl Jam | Main Square Festival | Arras

July 4, 2010 by Andrea 4 Comments

The main reason for my trip to Lille was to go to the Main Square Festival in Arras to see Pearl Jam. I was a huge fan of Pearl Jam in the 90s but never got a chance to see them play live.

I was hoping to see Pearl Jam play in Paris but for whatever reason, they are only playing in a few festivals around Europe, they are not doing any concerts on their own. So I booked my tickets to see them in Arras and arranged to stay in Lille for a few days to check out the city.

The festival started at 2pm but I really couldn’t see myself standing around all day, listening to bands I barely know so I got there at 9pm, just in time to see Ben Harper.

I’m not at all a fan of Ben Harper and only recognised a couple of the songs he played. Towards the end of his set, Eddie Vedder joined him on stage to sing Under Pressure, which was pretty cool and was probably the most popular song in his set, lol. Eddie Vedder > Ben Harper

Pearl Jam started their set at 11:30pm and they played for 90 minutes. They were brilliant. I can’t believe I have never seen them live before, especially seeing as they have toured a lot over the years. They played a couple of newer songs I hadn’t heard before but other than that, they played a lot of their most popular songs from Ten, Vs, and Vitalogy including:

Black
Alive
Jeremy
Corduroy
Even Flow
State of Love and Trust

Ben Harper joined Pearl Jam to play Red Mosquito during the encore. It seems like this is a pretty regular thing for them. I guess a lot of the bands end up playing in the same festivals.

This was one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen but that’s not surprising seeing as they are one of my favourite bands of all time. Eddie Vedder was brilliant as were the rest of the band. I didn’t really follow Pearl Jam that closely after the mid-90s so was surprised to learn that Matt Cameron (ex-Soundgarden drummer) is now the drummer for Pearl Jam. I was even a bigger fan of Soundgarden so it was great to see Matt Cameron playing once again.

I didn’t get any good photos at the festival as I only had my iPhone with me so this is all I got: