Absolutely glorious day here. After breakfast we walk to Central station in a slightly round about way down a shopping street to get the train to Leiden, the first part of the journey.

We are visiting Keukenhof Gardens today in Lisse where according to Wikipedia more than seven million tulips, daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, and lilies are on display. The gardens only open for eight weeks each year and are usually surrounded by fields full of lines of colourful tulips but all we see are green leaves as we are visiting in the last weekend of the season. Fingers crossed that there’ll be plenty to see inside.

Outside the station we catch a bus for the 25 minute journey. There’s a long queue but as we’ve already bought tickets we don’t have to wait too long. It’s incredibly busy at the entrance.

Once inside we head for a cafe for a cuppa, some bitterballen and a taste of delicious Dutch Apple cake enjoyed sitting outside in the sunshine.

The best time to visit the gardens is about 4 weeks previously so there’s lots of beds with stalks and no flower heads. But we are not disappointed as we wander around as there’s plenty of flowers in various stages and some of the overblown tulips are absolutely gorgeous.

We stroll around the gardens and displays inside and out and 2.5 hours later are ready to depart. No wait for the bus back into Leiden where we wander into the main square and sit in the sunshine next to the canal and watch the world go by on the canal, eating chips and drinking beer. We are entertained by the boat goers having to duck under a nearby bridge to avoid being knocked out.

Another beer closer to the station before heading back to Rotterdam on the train.

We take over three hours to walk the 25 minutes back to our apartment stopping along the way for beer and in one pub free crisps and salsa.

We nearly get a takeaway but instead head back to the apartment where we have burgers for dinner before managing to find Eurovision on live YouTube much to the delight of Jacky. A lovely end to a fab day. 19,673 steps too!