Dutch flower parades (Bloemencorso)

[Foxy]

I live in the flower-y area of the Netherlands and every year millions of tourists hijack our small towns to see the flower fields and gardens.

Yesterday, it was our annual flower parade and I thought I would share some pictures with you guys, as many foreigners are always super in love with our flowers 🙂 ( I grew up next to it, so it is normal for me!)

This was from our own small parade, but in the south of the Netherlands they host the largest one of the country and those are truly beautiful!

 

[ILLYRIAN]

So, you lived so close to all those flowers, how many heads of them flowers did you kick?

 

[Foxy]

Lived there gor 17 years! We used to pick the flowers and steal them from the fields all the time. When you got caught we all got in real big trouble!

 

[Ethan Reigns]

How does such a small country grow that many flowers? There can't be that many left anywhere else!

 

[Foxy]

I think my country has the highest amount of export of flowers in the world. I don't know for me it is normal to see this stuff 😛

 

[ILLYRIAN]

So, you never used the excuse you were a hippy with flowers in her hair?

 

[Foxy]

We actually never put flowers in our hair. Only some small white flowers, but never tulips or the like. No, we used to steal them so we could make witch potions or give them to our parents.

 

[November]

Amazing! Thanks for sharing 😀 I cant see it all very well at this time of night - are the floats entirely made of flowers? Very cool! I have seen the photos of tulip fields, stunning!

Are they bulb types that grow so well there?

 

[Foxy]

Yes, they create a frame with iron and carton and then they put the flowers on it.

These are mostly hyacints and tulips. Well we have soft soil as out landscape is swamp-y so it is great for flowers bulbs here. It is easy to garden here 🙂

 

[November]

I have recently moved here and the lady before me has bulbs though the whole garden that pop up and surprise me, its great! The colours are so vibrant.

 

[Ianigsy]

I have a colleague who enjoys Dutch culture (he was in Amsterdam last week and he's going again next week for an Ajax game). For anybody who's never flown into Amsterdam, as you descend into Schiphol, the bulb fields are like a carpet of colour all round.

I was reading a book about the Netherlands recently by an Englishman who married a Dutch woman and settled in Rotterdam - I quite like the idea of going for Carnival one year.

 

[Foxy]

You should go on the annual kingsday which ironically is tomorrow. This is the biggest party of the year. Everyone is dressee in orange, sells old stuff on markets for a buck a piece and then gets horribly drunk. Nobody is really 'proud' to be Dutch but on this day it is an honor really.

We are one little crazy country 😉

I grew up next to those flower fields and where the main flower gardens are (keukenhof). Haha, I don't care that much for football, but Ajax is pretty big.

You should tell your friend to read the book called Stuff Dutch People Like. If you google it there is a great website.