At some point during the fall semester of my year abroad, I became fixated on the idea of seeing the tulips in the Netherlands. I already majorly loved tulips, but when I realized I could see fields and fields of them I had to go. The Netherlands is also home to my favorite painting, Johaness Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” so I was able to combine those for a wonderful week living my Dutch dream.

Tulips were everywhere and I was in bulb heaven. Tulips weren’t the only flower in this humongous garden; hyacinths and daffodils were also common place.

This was a wonderfully lovely day spent between a bike ride through the bulb fields in Lisse and a tour through the gardens of Keukenhof.