Our riverboat cruise through The Netherlands and Belgium, April 2007 continued
Amsterdam – The Aalsmeer Flower Auction
The Aalsmeer Flower Auction is held in the world’s largest commercial building for exporting flowers. It is the size of 165 soccer fields, 240 acres. It started in 1912 in a small cafe. Holland produces more than 9 billion flower bulbs annually and at this auction 19 million fresh flowers are sold daily during a computerized auction. Once they are purchased, they’re loaded onto airplanes and transported to florist shops across Europe and the US, usually to be sold the same day
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- Flowers ready for auction
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- Flowers on way to be auctioned
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- One of 13 computerized auction rooms
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- Auction screen. As the clock ticks down the price lowers. Bidders bid by pressing a button when they are ready to buy. The highest bid wins and chooses how many to purchase.
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- Roses come from Kenya and Israel
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- Sunflowers for auction
Views from the Canals in Amsterdam
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- Distinctive architecture of Amsterdam
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- Along the canal
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- One of many houseboats on the canal
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- Wooden double drawbridge
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- Bridge
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- Under the road-watch your head
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- Along the canal
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- The land of bicycles
Walking around Amsterdam
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- One of several clock towers
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- Madame Tussaud’s
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- Clock tower near Anne Frank house
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- Anne Frank House
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- Hotel Diann
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- The Rijksmuseum where Rembrandt’s works are displayed
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- Faster transportation than the bicycle. Actually getting popular in the US in 2008
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- Bicycle parking lot
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- Bicycle parking lot. There are also three tiered lots available.
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- There are so many bicycles that they need their own traffic signals
Fields of Flowers along the way
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- Tulips
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- Fields of tulips
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- More tulips
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- Fields of Hyacinths
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- Flowers – As far as the eye can see