18 Mar 2020

Tulip in Keukenhof and Delft Traveling

by Annisa Yusrial | posted in: English | 0

My love for flowers led me to come back to a country which is famous for its flower collections, the Netherlands. The trip was in spring, which is the season when various flowers bloom. One of the most famous places in Europe to enjoy a variety of flower collections is Keukenhof, the Netherlands.

Coincidentally, my senior was accompanying her husband studying for a Master degree at TU Delft. Then, I decided to go to Delft in addition to the Keukenhof. As when I arrived in the Netherlands in 2013 (Read : Holland and Traveling), I had never been to Delft, a student city known for its technical campus, or to the Keukenhof, which is famous for its flower collections in spring. Indeed, I am the type that tends to choose not to visit the same place a second time. I prefer more places that I can explore. So, whenever there is an acquaintance who lives in a city that I have never visited, I will decide to go there. Besides, Keukenhof is also not far from Delft.

This time, I used train for my trip to the Netherlands, as it was cheaper and much faster than bus. During my previous trip in Europe, I used bus because it was usually cheaper. At that time, the trip to Delft that was available using the bus was only once a day, with so many transits and trips that could take almost 24 hours. In addition, because Delft is not the main city, there is not much transportation directly from Munich.

By using Goeuro application, I looked for the schedule and price of train tickets. Well, even though the cheapest ticket to Delft was 89.80 €, for the return ticket there was choice of 0 €. So, for Munich-Delft round trips, I spent 89.80 €. I decided to travel at night, with the consideration that I could rest on the train and save money. However, on the day, I regretted my decision to take the night train with so many transit points. I just realized on the day that I would not be able to rest, because during this trip to Delft, I had to transit in 5 places before finally arrived at Delft (Munich-Frankfurt-Köln-Mönchengladbach-Venlo-Eindhoven-Delft). The problem was that some transit time is only 1-2 hours. So I had to be careful not to fall asleep. Because if I fell asleep, I had to buy the ticket again.

And, my feeling was right, even though I had tried not to fall asleep, in fact I was still asleep! This time, I went to Delft alone, no one woke me up. Finally, it happened, I went to the wrong station! My first stop should be in Frankfurt, but I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was still half sleepy. I heard ‘Frankfurt’ mentioned and some people got off (I didn’t hear it fully). As it was so dark, I could not see the signboard of the area, I decided to go down to see. And it was not Fraknfurt, but a small town called Aschaffenburg. When I realized it wasn’t Frankfurt, suddenly the train door closed. Usually in Germany, if the train door closes, it is still possible to open it. But after several times I tried to open it, it didn’t work. Even though it is like usual, the door had closed, but the train did not immediately depart. Until after many times trying to open, finally the train moved without opening the door for me. I saw the screen, there was another Frankfurt train at half past five in the morning. And I have to buy the train ticket again.

I looked to my surrounding, really quiet. The time showed 12 o’clock at night. Finally, I walked down the tunnel to the station. I kept alert. In my heart, I asked for God’s forgiveness and help. Inside the station, there was still one pizza shop that opens and Subway fast food restaurant that was about to close. I searched for a place to sit, but most of them were filled, and all were men. I failed to sit down. In my heart, I cried over my situation. I decided to stand near the pizza shop. I had waited for one hour in standing position, as the pizza shop was take away pizza shop, so there were no benches. I felt so tired. I asked the Pizza shop whether it was open 24 hours. The employee said it only opened until 2 am. Oh God, where should I wait until half past five in the morning. I wanted to sit on the benches, but there were a lot of drunk men. As the clerk felt sorry to me, he told me to wait at a Turkish restaurant outside the station. It opened until 5am. Thanks God.

I finally left the station and found a halal Turkish restaurant. Alhamdulillah, there was one female employee. I ordered kebabs. Buyers came and went. Only I sat a long time there. Lord, I was so sleepy. But I had to be awake in order to catch the train. Until finally the watch showed 4 o’clock, I walked back to the station. After waiting several minutes, the train arrived.

Thanks God, I arrived at Delft! I love Holland air. Windmill, bicycles and grassland. Really relaxing. I like the laid back attitude of the Dutch people. Moreover, the Dutch can speak English. Driver, shop clerk, anyone on the road can speak English.

Finally, I arrived at my senior apartment almost 12 at noon. After cleaning and having lunch, I went to Keukenhof. At the Keukenhof, it was very crowded (because of the peak flowers blooming). I met many Indonesians. To Keukenhof from Delft, you have to go to Leiden Station first and then walk out to the bus that goes directly to Keukenhof (there is a direction marker). My bus fee was included with the Keukenhof entrance ticket I bought, which was 24.5 € / person. Besides Leiden, buses available directly to Keukenhof are at Schiphol and Harleem airports. To buy entrance tickets to Keukenhof, it can be ordered on the website https://keukenhof.nl/nl/.

Keukenhof is a flower garden that is routinely opened every year in spring. Usually from the end of March to mid-May. Most tourists here are eyeing photos with colorful tulips which are Dutch icon. For tulip, usually it blooms in the second to fourth week of April. Besides enjoying beautiful flowers that bloom in the garden, Keukenhof visitors can also visit the pavilions which contain hundreds of flower collections. Besides, visitors can rent bikes or use a boat to go around the Keukenhof as well. For visitors who bring children, there are also playgrounds. Keukenhof can be visited from 8:00 a.m-7:30 p.m.

Rose Collections at the Oranje Nasau Pavilion

Tulip Collections in Willem-Alexander Pavilion

Orchid Collections at Beatrix Pavilion

As I was in Holland only for two days, the next day I decided to go around the old town of Delft. Aside from being a student city, Delft is also famous for its blue ceramic crafts, which are usually the Dutch distinctive souvenirs. My seniors invited me to tour around the TU Delft campus, as well as seeing the cherry blossoms.