Aalsmeer Flower Auction

-







































I am totally going to cheat on this one and copy the information directly from Aalsmeer's official website.
Every day Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer sets the world price for flowers and plants. This happens by bringing supply and demand together by means of the auction clock- a fascinating process during which large and small batches of flowers are sold within fractions of seconds. Each day, 19 million flowers and two million plants are sold through 13 clocks at 'Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer'. It takes place within an area of almost one million m2. This means that Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer has the largest trade building in the entire world!
As a visitor to Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer, you will walk over a specially designed gallery. You can take a look at the auction without being noticed. Enjoy the gorgeous flowers, experience the hustle and bustle of auction. Come and take a look at Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer! More information: http://www.vba-aalsmeer.nl/

Could not have said it better myself. We arrived at the auction house 30 minutes after they had opened for business (7 fricking am!!) and still managed to miss most of the auction. These people operate at a speed that you would never expect in a country that allows pot smoking. We did, however, get to watch as the flowers got sorted by an army of men in little motorized carts. Watching them zip around was kind of like watching the city of future, George Jetson style. Throughout the tour , I kept dropping oh-so-subtle hints that this might be a good place to buy some flowers (ie. "Shawn, look at those flowers there. The yellow ones. I want them.") Would you believe that the gift shop, the one located in the same building as the WORLD'S LARGEST FLOWER AUCTION only had plastic flowers for sale?! That, and wooden shoes.

Comments

  1. L@ur@September 18, 2007 at 9:49 AM

    I think it was an experience!!! So many flowers, all types and colors…u could choose whatever u want!!! And in the end did u get the flowers that u wanted? ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. RamblingRolandSeptember 22, 2007 at 8:14 AM

    Hope the pot wasn't plastic too :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Five reasons why it's better to visit Yellowstone National Park during the winter.

-
Image
 It is well documented how much I hate the cold. I believe that anything below 65 degrees is just unnecessary. Anything below freezing, sheer lunacy.  Yet, here I was in Bozeman, Montana for a long weekend in February.  I was not exactly upset. This is an unspeakably beautiful state and one of the remaining four I'd yet to visit.  I just wish they'd show a bit more self-control when it comes to Winter. Why does it have to snow so much, even during a year when locals were complaining that there was not enough snow? They don't even blink at 20 below zero, an actual temperature that we experienced. It's simply too much!  Cold or no cold, I was not about to pass up the opportunity to visit the country's first national park, because of course I wasn't. The plot twist is that now that I have, I am firmly convinced this is the best possible time to visit. I can even give you five solid reasons why. 1. It's cheaper. The park, which covers almost 3,500 square miles a
Read more

10 Things that made me fall in love with Bilbao and the Basque Region- parte 2

-
Image
In my last post, I started listing all the things I loved about the six days I spent in the Bilbao region. At some point, it hit me that I had way too many photos for one post and didn't want to be responsible for anyone spraining a scrolling finger. With that in mind, let's continue with this Bilbao lovefest. 6. San Sebastian Beach resort, Belle Epoque architecture, the world's greatest number of Michelin star restaurants per capita and a viewpoint with bumper cars-this town has a lot to offer. It would be easy to spend a couple of days here. Since we were here on a day tour, we had a grand total of 2 hours. This gave us just enough time to glimpse some of the highlights. The Maria Cristina Bridge The San Sebastian Cathedral De Okendo Plaza, a monument to a Spanish admiral Constitution Square, formerly a bull ring now the city's main plaza Viewpoint from the Igueldo Amusement Park With more time, I would have happily done the Michelin thing, gone for a swim and gotten
Read more