We stepped straight off the decks of Avalon Luminary and into our walking tour of Maastricht. Everyone was quite excited because later this morning we were to go by coach to Venlo, the location for Floriade. This giant festival is held every 10 years, each time in a different part of Holland. Floriade features not only tulips but has many pavilions from various countries that promote horticulture.

The temperature, even though it was spring, was quite cool. Many of our fellow passengers from the USA didn’t look up their temperature charts before setting off for their European cruise, so more than a few hadn’t brought adequate warm clothing with them. All the Australians on board had no problems as they dressed for the weather.

To be perfectly honest, Floriade was a bit of a let down.  It appeared that many countries had no pavilions, possibly due to the international financial crisis and those that had pavilions had very poor displays. The real highlight of our trip was our visit to the Keukenhof Gardens. This is on every year and I highly recommend that if you love flowers,  a river cruise during the European spring must include Keukenhof.

Then it was back to the ship to prepare for our farewell dinner, which is usually held the evening before the last night.