Amsterdam - Tulips with Friends - Touring Tuesday

My favorite day in Amsterdam was our last day, although I don't have a lot of photos to show for it.  A family that's been friends with Matt's family forever is living in The Netherlands for a few years, and we took the train out to meet them.  It's been years since we've seen them, but there was no shortage of things to talk about.

They picked us up from the train station and took us on a detour to the beach on the North Sea.  I was quite surprised at this beautiful spot.  The boardwalk along the sea is full of restaurants, shops, and small snack shops.  I can see how it's a big draw on beautiful summer days.  Our kids happily climbed on some sculptures while the adults talked (hence no photos).

As we drove toward their house we finalized the day's plan.  

Tulips!

The Keukenhof is a flower theme park in Holland.  The packed tour bus parking lot told us that straight away.  Once inside we could see why the Keukenhof is a destination.  It is absolutely stunning.

Youngest Kiddo honed in on the wooden circle platforms in the lake.  When he saw you could walk across them then there was no convincing him otherwise.  It was the most stressful three minutes of our vacation.  We held hands and made it dry on the other side.

If we visited without Youngest Kiddo, we would have stayed longer.  However, once he started running laps around the flower beds we knew it was time to go.  We stayed with our friends (and their lovable dog!) through dinner and then we were back on the train to our hotel.

Matt watched the dog while we grabbed take away

On our flight back to London, I thought about why our last day was my favorite.  It's because we spent it with friends!  Shared experiences with friends makes the event more vivid and memorable.