Flower Auction, Kinderdijk, and Amsterdam with Mom & Dad

World's Largest Flower Auction warehouse
see all photos »

One of the things Chad and I have heard a lot about was the World’s Largest Flower Auction, which happens to take place in Aalsmeer, a town south of Amsterdam. In order to get there using public transportation, it would take several hours due to different train and bus exchanges. Since we had a rental car, I decided that this would be time to do it, and I thought it would be something unique for my parents to see. All of our Netherlands books stated that the auction ran from 6 AM to 9 PM and that you didn’t need to be there for long. So, we headed out one morning, arriving at the Auction around 8:30. When we got to the ticket office, they informed us that the auction was over, but we could go see and see them moving all of the millions of flowers to the correct loading areas. (The books said 9-not 8:30!) We decided to go for it, even though we were disappointed that we missed watching the auction. Apparently, the auction is very similar to any auction-only this one is entirely flowers of every kind, that have been shipped in from all over the world-many from Holland. We did get to see the auction rooms in which the flowers are presented and bidders react within seconds to purchase. You could tell that these rooms included enough seats for hundreds of bidders. The building in which all of the flowers are held-is about the length of 3 football fields. It is quite large, and the system they have in place to move the flowers is intense-very efficient and quick. Hundreds of workers have little machines that hook on to tall cages of flowers that they can pull or move around. If you are interested in trying to understand what I am talking about-you can You Tube it and see what exactly is going on. Nothing I say, nor the pictures that we have posted can demonstrate how large this building is and how many flowers we watched go by.

see all photos »

After this, we took our little rental car directly to Kinderdijk, the tiny village outside of Rotterdam that has the most windmills in one spot in Holland. We wrote about this area when we went for the first time this summer with Lucy and Nick. We took some good photos of my folks, and they enjoyed going inside one of the working windmills to see what it is like for the families that lived in them so many years ago. This area of the Netherlands is quite famous, and it is a must see for those that want to see the windmills that make Holland famous.

see all photos »

The last trip we took with my parents was to Amsterdam. We had pre-booked tickets to the Anne Frank House, a must see for my mom and dad. When we arrived in Amsterdam, we first took a canal tour so that they could see the city without walking for miles. At this point-the end of their trip-and the last of 4 major trips for Chad and I-we were exhausted! The canal ride gave my parents a glimpse of all of the pretty houses and buildings and all of the famous canals. It was very relaxing and a good way to enjoy Amsterdam. We then had lunch and began our tour of the Anne Frank House. Surprisingly enough, Chad and I had not been to this historical site yet, and so we were all excited about what this would be like. The tour is self led-and there are many signs and small movie clips and pictures posted throughout the entire building. If you remember, there is the store, in which Anne’s father worked and owned at one time, and then the annex, the part of the house in which Anne and her family lived, as well as the others. The house is typical Dutch architecture-tall and skinny with many steep staircases leading to multiple levels. It was quite easy to imagine this group of people all living there since Anne Frank had painted such a clear picture in her diary. The kitchen where they all spent time together (which was also the bedroom of the other couple) was dark and gloomy, with very little light because the windows were blacked out. I can’t imagine never being able to see outside and to have rooms that do not receive any natural light. Imagine living like that for a couple of years as they did. It must have been so depressing. The bathroom, where they not allowed to use water or flush the toilet during the day, due to neighbors hearing them was very tiny. It was hard to imagine all of those people sharing it, yet not really be able to use it. Anne’s room still had many of the photos of movie stars that she had clipped and glued to the walls to cheer her up. You could even see the spot in which Anne and her sister kept track of their growth using a pencil and marking it every couple of months. It was quite surreal to be there and to hear about this family’s experience. It was very sad to see, but it is a must to spend time here due to the seriousness and reality of what so many people went through during WWII.

see all photos »

As I said, we were pretty exhausted, and my parents were satisfied with what we had seen, and so we hopped on a train and headed home.