Vesak Day

Today is a public holiday in Singapore for Vesak Day and this weekend will see many Singaporeans take advantage of the long weekend and travel to Thailand, Bali and Malaysia which are all short flights from Singapore.
Vesak day is sometimes referred to as " Budha's Birthday" and is observed by Buddhists. The day is actually the celebration of the birth , enlightenment and death of Buddha .
Vesak Day  celebrations can be observed in the main Buddhists Temple in Singapore - the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in Chinatown and Lian Shan Shuang Lin Temple in Toa Payoh , which is the second biggest Buddhist temple in Asia.

Today will see Buddhists attending their temples before dawn for the ceremonies. Simple offerings of flowers, candles and joss-sticks will be offered at the feet of their spiritual teacher. Buddhists believe that performing good deeds on Vesak Day will multiply merit many times over. Many of the followers will also bath a small image of the baby Buddha in front of the altar by pouring over the statue. Most statues of the Lord Buddha are illuminated on Vesak Day, and the celebrations will conclude tonight with a candlelight procession through the streets around the temples.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Bathing the Stature of Baby Buddha

Inside the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Tulipmania at Gardens by the Bay

Having just come back from the Keukenhof gardens in Holland I was interested to see the tulip display that the Gardens by the Bay were hosting for a few weeks here in Singapore.
The display in the Flower Dome exceeded my expectations and it was certainly reminiscent of the displays in Holland and gives visitors a showcase of wonderful flowering bulbs that don't grow in Singapore due to the tropical conditions. Some 20000 plants have being flown in and to keep them fresh the Flower Dome temperature will be lowered during the display.

Tulips and hyacinths

The display had to have a windmill

Double Tulips

More decorated giant clogs

Hyacinths and jonquils

Another windmill

The display in the Flower Dome

Great range of colours

Tulips in rows reminiscent of tulips fields in Holland

A display from Holland needs a bike

Decorated bikes

Tulips and jonquils

Decorated giant sized clogs

Plastic tulips lining the walkway to the Flower Dome

A plastic tulip lining the walkway to the Flower Dome

Keukenhof - world's largest flower gardens

Keukenhof is the world's largest flower gardens with about 7 million bulbs planted. Situated about 40 minutes from Amsterdam the gardens are open from March to late May and because this year Holland had a late start to Spring,  we were able to see the gardens in their full glory. The gardens cover over 32 hectares and many themed gardens are covered such as Japanese and English styles. Also large areas are natural bushland with the bulbs planted amongst the trees.
Adjacent to the gardens are private bulb fields that are a wonderful and colourful sight .
When we arrived at Keukenhof there would have been at least 30 tourist coaches in the car park, but as the grounds are so large it did not seem crowded.
The plantings were spectacular and as you turned each corner a new combination of bulb plantings greeted you.

Entrance to the gardens

Tulips

The adjacent tulip fields

Highlighting the red tulips only

The adjacent tulip fields used for bulb production

Mixed plating of tulips

Flowering bulbs amongst the manicured lawns

One on the many varieties of daffodils

Planting of hyacinths

Sculpture amongst tulips

More tulips

Tulip bulb sculpture

Daffodils, jonquils and tulips

Grape hyacinths

Daffodils amongst the Birch trees

Striped tulips

The windmill shot!

Amsterdam

The warm weather continued on our holiday which made Amsterdam a lively city with many restaurants busy with alfresco diners soaking up the sun after a late cold winter.
Getting away from the tourist masses in the Kalverstraart area we were taken by the many beautiful houses and interesting shops along the canals. Everywhere we looked we would see beautiful restored houses each one different with decorative features such as gables and cornices. Some retained wall plaques that were used to identify the houses before street numbering was introduced. Also noticeable was the tilts the houses had due to the houses foundations sinking. Some houses facades also tilted forward but many were built like this for the purpose of the windows being protected when goods were winched up to the attic.
Copenhagen prepared us for the bikes and bike paths and we joined the locals by hiring bikes and riding the various streets and lanes around the canal. We also did a few laps of the large inner city park called Vondelpark which was crowded with joggers, picnickers and dog walkers.
We spent an enjoyable afternoon at the recently reopened and renovated Rijksmuseum as well as watching a free concert for Liberation Day in which members of the Royal family were in attendance.

Houses along the canal

Boats lining the canal

Tilting house

Boats on the canal

  Wall plaques

More houses ( some facades tilting forward )

Sint- Nicolaaskerk church ( Patron of Seafarers )

View of the Waag (weigh house )

Bandstand at Vondelpark

King Willem - Alexander , Princess Beatrix and Queen Máxima at the concert

Crowds at the Liberation Day concert

Concert goers listening to the concert on the canal

Rijksmuseum

 Koninklijk Paleis ( Royal Palace )

The InterContinental Amstel hotel