This Saturday is one of the most popular walking days in the Netherlands. The town of Lisse, southwest of Amsterdam, is hosting its annual Keukenhoftocht, which will take you through one of the most beautiful botanical gardens in the world. The following description is from the Keukenhof Web page:
“The theme for Keukenhof 2011 is ‘Germany: Land of Poets and Philosophers.’ Highlights this year are the various inspirational gardens with a German twist, the flowering bulb mosaic of the Brandenburg Gate incorporating more than 100,000 bulbs, and a special theme route.
“The Juliana Pavilion will highlight the relationship between the Netherlands and Germany in the form of a Netherlands-Germany Experience Centre: three rooms in which the relationship between the Netherlands and Germany is the center of attention. Visitors are taken through a special experience using images, light, sound and decor. Come and see which Dutch people are famous in Germany and vice versa; experience the football finals of 1974 and 1988 and see the importance of trade between the two countries.”
This walk will bring busloads of people from all over Europe. The cost of the start card is very high for a Volksmarch at about 9 euros, but that is a 5-euro savings over buying your entry ticket at the garden. IVV credit is an added bonus.
In addition to the gardens, you get to walk around the town of Lisse and see several commercial flower fields with various varieties and colors of flowers.
The start hall is at the Family Bakker flower packaging warehouse at Meer en Duin 1-5. GPS information: postal code 2163 HA, Lisse, Netherlands.
The gardens will be open until May 20. Gates open at 8 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m.; the last tickets will be sold at 6 p.m.
Find more information at keukenhof.com, including the history of the gardens, a schedule of events and a video. You also may buy tickets online. Even if you don’t make it this weekend, we recommend Lisse for a visit sometime this year.
• This weekend’s walk in Freiberg am Neckar, Germany, is a Stammtisch walk for the Stuttgart German American Wandering Club, so be on the lookout for their blue flag.
• The event in Rodenbach, Germany, this weekend is very convenient for walkers in the Ramstein/Kaiserslautern area. Pick up a B-medal beer mug at this walk.
• Clark Soeldner tells us that if you want the food prize at the walk in Buttrio, Italy, on May 1, you need to register before April 26. If you want to walk without the prize, you can still sign up the morning of the walk. To register, you can email iat.buttrio@hotmail.it.
• A couple of weeks ago we mentioned a culinary volksmarch taking place April 17 in Oppenheim, Germany. William Dieterich sent us a web site which explains these events. Visit: www.kulinarische-wanderung.de for more information. We plan to check the site this summer to see wehther more events are added. If any readers attend one of these walks, please send us a message and let us know how it was.
• If anyone attended the “In the Footsteps of the 82nd Airborne” walk Feb. 26, please let us know how the event was.
• The following individuals deserve a big pat on the back for taking the time to send us flyers: William Castro and Maureen McHugh-Castro,Cath and Rob Floyd, Bob Gambert, Richard and Donna Glenn, Wayne Henry, Tim and Luchi Lynch, “Pat” and Cheryl Patterson and Rick and Wanda Sciascia.
E-mail volksmarch information to two.walkers@yahoo.com. Mail brochures to Bob and Lorraine Huffaker, CMR 460, Box 278, APO, AE, 09752.
