Saturday, April 14, 2012

Two Totally Different Gardens

We had another great day today after leaving Amsterdam this morning. We first headed out to Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn (photos above) which was amazing in scale and appearance. Check on the internet for the history of this place and it's use by the Dutch Royal Family. The trip was only an hour or so (from Amsterdam) and we didn't find the palace too busy although people were pouring in all morning. The palace itself was really neat (and quite fancy) although I spent most of my time out in the gardens. I had a beer and sandwich at their restaurant (2 am Janesville time) and noticed all the old timers also drinking beer with almost everyone around me smoking. We later headed to the Appletern Gardens which were quite amazing (images below). This garden contains over 200 "mini-gardens" that demonstrate various styles, planting arrangements, outdoor living rooms, etc. It was quite amazing and while some of the designs were ultra-modern, I found value in seeing all the areas and was hard pressed to see everything in our allotted three hours. It seemed that I kept turning corners and finding new areas that I hadn't seen yet. I took plenty of pictures today including one of Jenny and Margo hanging out under the waterfall. This garden was really a nice display and "ideas type" of garden that I think all visitors would value. Their signage was ok and I got some good ideas. We then took the bus to our hotel in Eindoven and got caught up with mammoth crowds heading to a soccer match right near the hotel. We went right out to dinner to avoid the crazy crowds after the match and were able to get back to safety in time.

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