Netherlands with my mom

I worked the Friday after we returned from Provence with my mom, then the two of us left the next day for a mother/son weekend to the Netherlands. Our main goals were to see the famous Keukenhof tulip festival and to see some highlights of Amsterdam. We drove to Haarlem, a city in between Amsterdam and Keukenhof, the site of our hotel. We got their in time to check out a fun market outside the local cathedral.

My mom enjoying a local favorite, double fried French fries.

This beautiful pipe organ was once played by Händel and a young 10yo Mozart.

Haarlem is home to the Corrie ten Boom house and museum, the home of the famed "hiding place" where Corrie and her family hid runaway Jews and other refugees during the Nazi occupation. My mom is looking into the wall cutout of the place they could hide up to 6 people.

The next morning we woke up early to get to Keukenhof before the crowds arrived. We actually got there a half hour before the gates opened, but the gate guard was kind and let us in early. So we got to quietly explore this amazing garden with only a handful of other early bird photographers. It was the most beautiful garden I've ever seen, and below are some of many pics I took while there.

The rest of Sunday and Monday morning we did a quick tour of Amsterdam, enjoying a canal cruise and spending time in the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum. Our time flew by too quickly :)