Keukenhof

The second item on Mia's list of places to see was the Keukenhof which is only open two months a year when the tulips are in bloom. The place is about one hour west of Amsterdam and we booked a tour that includes the transfer by bus. The weather was beautiful and so were all the flowers

 

One could take literally take hundreds of pictures

 

Of course everybody else was taking pictures as well:

Outside the park there are tulip fields:

 On the way back we could see some of the modern architecture along the highways

Trip to Amsterdam

On Easter Monday we made the three hour drive to Amsterdam. Mia has never been there and the weather forecast looked really good with lots if sun. On Mia's wish list was a visit to the Van Gogh museum for which it is very difficult to get tickets - but with some luck we could snap up some in a one minute window at 5 pm the evening before when some extra tickets became available online.

Two of our favorite pictures -  the sun eset one is from Paul Signac shown in a special exhibition called Yellow - Van Gogh's favorite color

One of his many self portraits

The architecture of the museum was also impressive

One of Van Gogh's last paintings: Almond Blossoms - a present for his brother for the birth of his son

After the museum we headed to the busy Vondelpark nearby - next to a very fancy neighborhood

Then for dinner we looked for a Chinese restaurant in the center not far from the main train statio

 

Back to our hotel  at the outskirts of Amsterdam with the very modern metro. 

First election

With the age of seventeen Mia is eligible to vote for state election in Baden Württemberg. So we we went together to the poling station which is only one block away

The result of the election was another win of the Green party - just as in the two election before

 

Bärlauch time

With the beginning of spring it is time to pick some fresh Bärlauch - wild garlic - and have great peesto and chinese dumöings

Papa's birthday

For this year's birthday the candles from Mia's 16'th birthday could be recycled 

The traditional birthday present from Mia is some chocolate

We tried a selfie with a new remote control

The birthday dinner was another tradition: The dish with rice, ground meet and peppers that was also the birthday dish when growing up

 

Nisha's birthday

 For Nishas's birthday Mia had worked for a long time on a booklet with pictures and other memories

She also got a lava cake as birthday cake

 

  

Shopping in Frankfurt

 To find a new jeans for Mia we went all the way to Frankfurt with Nisha as a fashion consultant

 But first it was lunch time at Chipotle - one of only two in Germany