Netherlands: Last Day in Holland

I would have gotten more sleep if I hadn't stayed up listening to the thunderstorm and rain. We awoke to an early breakfast of boiled eggs, meats and coffee. Thank God for the caffine! Today we meet our bus driver, Ronnie, from Belgium. He seems like a very quiet man - but this is the first day, so we shall see...
Prior to boarding the bus, we were introduced to the "infamous" Buddy System. As luck would have it (and I'll be damned!), I was partnered up with my Buddy for the length of this tour: Dennis or "The Troublemaker" as most of us affectionally called him. As he often said afterwards, he now had two "Jennies" - his lovely wife: Geni and, well... me. (Flattery, Dennis, will get you everywhere!)
It seemed sad to leave the little town of Haarlem... but our tour of Holland was not yet over. This day would be our last in the Netherlands. Our first stop was the Aalsmeer Flower Warehouse. It took me by surprise... why visit a flower storage facility? It was enormous!! The biggest facility I've seen since..the Space Shuttle building in Coco Beach, Florida. The building seem to go on for miles (which it did). There were tons of flowers and plants... all the bustling workers, mini train tracks, mini fork lifts. It smelled glorious!
Tour books boast that you can see this facility from space... I believe it. We were walking on wide scaffoldings looking down. In the middle of the building, we peered in through glass windows to see what appeared to be a giant clock on the wall... with lights that went back and forth in circles, clock-wise and counter-clockwise. Around this clock, a stadium of desks seem to be built. It was all very exciting. They were bidding!! The men in the room were intensely staring at the stacks of flowers coming in on tracks and punching in their bids.
These buyers only stared back at us when I snapped a photo. I managed a sheepish grin and simply waved to them. Some smiled or laughed and even waved back. I continued on my walk, made sort of a u-turn and walked towards their souvenier shop. I commenced gathering all the little wooden shoes I could find. They have a great assortments of bulbs and seeds you can ship home if you choose to do so.
After another hour on the bus, we ended up at the Dutch Open Air Museum. It was the Dutch version of a outdoor folk art and museum. It was cool. Lots of area to roam, buildings and cottage homes to visit and stroll through, complete with farm animals. Tons of photo opportunities, even though the day was slightly hazy. A boxed lunch was provided, but I couldn't help but order some french fries - they were absolutely delicious and soon other tour members were also digging in.
As we entered Germany, the skies darkened and slowly it started to rain. We took a road that paralled the Rhine River. After a while, a few of the people on the bus started pointing out castles one after the other, some to the left of us, on hills accross the river, others were on our right. Looking around, it suddenly dawned on me... the river, the mists floating about and castles.. how wonderfully romantic Germany was. I was filled with Cinderalla dreams.