Lock Bridge: Koeln

As I was going through my photos on todays post I realized that I forgot to put pictures of the lock bridge in Koeln. Two years ago my cousin visited with her husband and instead of renewing their vows they actually bought a lock and locked in on the bridge. So, just a quick back story. For those of you who don't know what the lock bridges are ( they are seriously all over the world) the lock symbolizes love forever and when you lock it on the bridge you are supposed to through your key over. This symbolizes that now you can't unlock it or put it simply you are basically going to love each other forever. I think that this is a cute idea, however in most places this is actuallly illegal. However, thousands of people do it, and their are literally thousands of locks ( some have been there since the 80's). And the pictures....

Tulips and Waffels : A day at Keukenhof

Ah, Keukenhof gardens. Where do I begin the post for one of my least favorite places. It's not that I have anything against looking at flowers for a day or having to drive 7 hours round try or the fact that everything is expensive as all get up there. But, our friends wanted to go there, so what do we do...... we go there. Keukenhof for us is around a 4 hour drive one way, not including rest stops. By the time you arrive at the gardens you are hungry and unfortunately for you everything is way overpriced. The whole day we were joking about the "ten dollar" water. Seriously, the beer cost less then water ( and it was a hot day). Walking around wasn't that bad, but it was hard keeping the children contained and to not have them running off. Luckily, the people at Keukenhof are smart and decided to build a playground. If you have kids this will be a great way to get out all their energy because trust me, Keukenhof is a looonnnggggg day. They also have a petting pen/zoo that the kids loved.  I enjoy looking at all the flowers and statues but it does get boring. The latest "big" exhibit they have is a selfie garden ( the exhibits switch regularly, another latest has been a "love" theme)  which supposedly you can take better selfies here. This tells something about our generation. Personally my favortie area of the park is the Asian/ Oriental gardens. There wasn't many tulips actually in bloom, I reckon in the next three weeks the flowers will be blooming. If you go to the website you can actually see how much of the flowers are in bloom, so I would recommend looking at that for the best times to visit the gardens. There were some tulips but not a lot. But unfortunately/fortunately (I can't decide which one) for me I didn't bring my telephoto lens so I didn't get the best photos. Now for the photos..........   ( * we also saw someone get married at the gardens*)