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Rise early in the morning, when the world's largest flower market, the Aalsmeer Flower Auction, goes into action so you can be there to observe. In a modern, highly automated building approximately the size of 100 football fields, a vast array of flowers of many colors, sizes & varieties are traded very quickly, then shipped by air to florists' shops all over Europe on the very same day. Continue across the countryside, crossing multi-colored bulb fields to visit the Keukenhof Exhibition, the world-renowned display garden on a 70-acre estate where local growers plant 6 million bulbs annually - the world's largest exhibition of blooming tulips, daffodils & hyacinths. Stroll through the gardens, view the plantings in the three exhibition halls & climb the windmill for a magnificent look at the brilliant colors in the accompanying bulb fields.
Travel to nearby Gouda, with its lovely 15th c. gothic Town Hall, handsome 17th c. Waag (Weighing House), the St. Jans Church with its exceptionally beautiful stained glass windows & of course, its stroopwafels (syrup waffles), which you will taste. Take a guided walking tour of this charming town; then visit a cheese farm to see Gouda cheese produced & to taste the cheese. B/L/D Hotel Vondel Amsterdam (4-star)
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