daffodil – David Kotz

Amsterdam and tulips

A perfect weekend to visit!

The tulips are in full bloom in Holland! For my “hike” this weekend, Pam and I joined our friend Jen for a weekend in Amsterdam. (It’s only four hours from London via train!) Jen kindly arranged a bike rental in Lisse, a small village south of Amsterdam surrounded by vast fields of tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths – all in full bloom – where the air was sweet with the scent from hundreds of thousands of flowers. We spent a lovely few hours riding the bike paths – the Netherlands are heaven for bikers, because nearly every street and road has an adjacent bike path, with dedicated signage.

Vast fields of tulips, hyacinth, daffodils, and other flowers – outside Amsterdam.

Royal Parks walk

Five miles across west London.

It has rained nearly every day for the past week, and the forecast today appeared to promise on-and-off drizzle. At best. Nonetheless, I was determined not to break my streak… and go hiking for this 20th consecutive weekend. I chose to walk end-to-end across the three Royal Parks in London’s West End: Hyde Park, Green Park, and St James Park, on my return from Saturday-morning coffee with colleagues to my home near Victoria Station. It was a surprisingly pleasant five-mile walk, and it seemed half of London was out to enjoy these parks today as well.