I don’t want to mention the
rain again. We experienced some lovely periods of sunshine today and this made
the bulbfields even more colourful. Against the grey skies the lines of colour
are dramatic but they come alive in the sun. We saw rows and rows of tulips, purple
hyacinths and white daffodils/hyacinths. The colour range of the tulips is
amazing. The orange ones on closer inspection, turn out to be pink and yellow
stripes, the reds range from deep crimson to fiery engine red and then there are creams, pinks, yellows, purples etc. The fields were also being worked by the farmers and
assistants. Most of the flowers are cut and sold cheaply – 30 tulips for 5
euros. The bulbs are kept and sold for a better price.
Afterwards
we hit the seaside at Noordwijk. A broad grey sweep of sand with it’s own lighthouse and life guard service.
It’s popular with dog-walkers, horseriders and sun-worshippers who sit on
terraced cafes behind walls of glass out of the wind but in the sun. Here they
drink coffee, eat apple tart, whip into cream –laden hot chocolates or sit back
for a few beers or wines. On a sunny day this can go for hours. We went inside
a very nice beach-side restaurant called Beach Club. We gazed out to sea, and
also at a school excursion which seemed to comprise mainly of sitting in the
crowded jeep with the flashing lights on.
The cafes are right on the sand and sometimes subject to sand build up and high tides so they sit on wooden racks
like square jetties.
Jood and I tried smoked mackeral on fresh white rolls from a "vis boer" on the esplanade. It was pretty nice (I thought) and better than salted herring but the taste stayed with you for the rest of the day (nothing could wash it away - I tried licorice, chocomel, coffee, chocolate, apple, and finally a 4 cheeses pizza which did the trick but created a new flavour sensation to spend the night with.
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