The Netherlands.

OK - so I think of it as Holland, but I believe that The Netherlands is the correct name. Fortunately the Dutch as a whole are very forgiving!

Sadly there weren't any tulips to be seen (well it was August) - even at Floriade. Floriade occurs every 10 years in the Netherlands, and I have wanted to see it for a long time. We had to miss it in 2002 due to having a very small, really rather ill baby at that time (Who is now a very healthy ten year with an attitude!).

Floriade wasn't what I was expecting (I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't what Floriade turned out to be). We did however have a very good (and very warm) day there. There were quite a few "educational" sections (I now know a lot more about Dutch Elm disease for example) and some amazing swathes of planting in the Dutch prairie style. It is apparently a horticultural trade show that has grown into a public show. Once I knew that, it all made a lot more sense.

 There were a section of gardens from around the world - I particularly liked this one which had a sewing theme - yes that is a sculpture of a needle and thread. The open white gazebo in the background was meant to be a pin cushion.

There were horticultural representations of famous Dutch works of art:

If you looked closely you could see that the "sunflowers" were in fact made up of fruit and vegetables.

We had spent the previous day at the Kroller-Muller Art museum and sculpture park in the Hoge Veluwe National Park (you have no idea how hard that is to pronounce) where we had seen some real Van Goghs

 

And some Mondrian:

  Wouldn't this be interesting to interpret as textile art (embroidery or applique perhaps - I think piecing for a quilt might be too far a step!)

 My favourite was the sculpture park. Whilst there was grumpy acceptance of it by the older two children, the five year old loved it (and not just because he got to let off some steam)

There were some very intriguing items - taking the concept of camping to a new level perhaps?

 Or even caravanning.....

Towards the end there were a fantastic series of golden head sculptures of one man, all with different expressions and different horns - except for the last which had a long pointed snout! This was my favourite - it has such life to it.

We also went for a drive through the Park where we discovered a enormous great sand dune. It was very bizarre

There were acres of it - and it was bright golden yellow - my camera just couldn't capture it. It was like "Hollywood" sand - the perfect colour and texture and so didn't seem real.

Sadly we didn't have enough time left to make use of the free white bikes in the park, but maybe next time...

Oh and we did also see lots of these:

And discovered a new food addiction - Speculoos Paste......... It is Nutella for grownups (I say this to justify why I try not to let my children have any of my rapidly diminishing supply - oh and there isn't any chocolate in it, but let's not split hairs)