By Noemi Gamel

What do you think of when you hear of Amsterdam? Call me a total geek, but I think of tulips, windmills, the Anne Frank House, and The Fault In Our Stars book. To recover from our emotional but uplifting visit to the Anne Frank House, we headed to Keukenhof, one of the largest tulip gardens in the Netherlands (more then 800,000 tulip bulbs are planted each year).
The history of Keukenhof goes back over 500 years when Countess Jacqueline of Bavaria gathered fruits and vegetables from the woods nearby for her kitchen. The landscape architect father-son team by the name of Zocher designed the castle gardens in 1857, and for the last fifty years the estate has served as the main platform for the Dutch floriculture section.
As you walk into the gardens, you feel like you are in a Dutch version of Disneyland, where the theme is tulips instead of fairy tales. Everywhere you go, you see, smell, and feel the flowers. In addition to numerous paths, gardens, and ponds, you will also find a maze, green houses, tulip fields, a playground, and a petting zoo. Prepare to spend the whole day here!