Africa-Press – Gambia. Immediately upon entering, an American man marvels at a tub of tulips. He can indulge himself: tulips are everywhere on the Floriade, which has been open to the public since Thursday. Sometimes the tulips were intended for that spot, but often they were also hastily placed to fill the bare beds. The group of Americans comes from one of the buses that spit out foreign tourists in Almere this morning. Four hours Floriade, this afternoon Amsterdam, tomorrow the Keukenhof. “And then some villages, I believe they are called Schokland and Zwolle,” says a seventy-year-old from Hanover.
There are a striking number of Germans today, such as the Vorsthove family, who came from Münster by car. “It’s vacation, so what do you do?” he says. She: “This is something different than Phantasialand or a museum.” What strikes them is that it is still a ‘construction site’. He: “In Germany they would postpone the opening. In the Netherlands they think: just start, then we’ll finish it. Typical.” But with three tickets for 29 euros (35 at the cash register) and parking for 14.50 euros (19.50), he finds it less funny. He: “That is beyond the pain threshold.” And then they don’t know that they have to pay separately for the Floriade train, 6.75 per person.
Hardly anyone knows that, the conductor notices. He does not want to refuse people with walking difficulties – and with the buses full of seniors this morning there are quite a few. But a family with small children? “You can buy a ticket there.”
The Floriade hopes to receive two million visitors until 9 October. Three quarters of whom are from the Netherlands. Residents receive a discount. Because now the world horticultural exhibition is here, but soon a new district will be built here for the city. The residents of Almere who are there this morning have different expectations than the tourists who have traveled for hours. Guus Harms has been coming here with his family since the cable car opened last year. Nanda and John Reding’s kids (4 and 5) just think it’s “FUN!” to be here. Nanda thinks the Floriade is positive for Almere, especially if it will soon be possible to live there. Erna, a sixty-year-old who came on her scooter for the second day today, sees it from two sides: they would have been better off building affordable homes of those 125 million right away. But now that the Floriade is here, she is happy to pick up her subscription. “It is also about sustainability and innovation. I find interesting. But then I see roses flown in at the Gambia pavilion and then I think: how then?”
Hortus Avenue is still quiet around noon. In the Eco-district, which you can get to by taking the cable car over the A6, there are even fewer people to see about twenty gardeners covering the ‘flower garden’ of sponsor Albert Heijn with rolls of sod at an emergency pace. . On the Groene Eiland, the vegetation is much further along, but there it is difficult to drink coffee somewhere, Laetitia Zumpolle, daughter Famke and neighbor Marloes from Ammerzoden notice. The idea of going here came spontaneously yesterday, but on reflection they should have gone later in the season. Zumpolle: “We love flowers and gardening, but there is still a lot to come.” Mrs Coleman from Coventry, England, tries to say it very politely. It’s all terribly “nice” and “amazing,” she says. And then softly: “…in September.”
In the Urban District, a number of Englishmen are remarkably direct. An elderly man yells at an employee that it is one big mess. Two women from London, who are visiting relatives in the Netherlands (and don’t want to embarrass them with their criticism), want to let off steam. “It is logical that not everything is in bloom in April. But so much is not ready yet. There was not even soap in the toilet. In covid time!” Behind them, construction workers are working on the Thai pavilion. In the ‘spiritual garden’ of India there are construction chains.
Some Dutch visitors are a bit milder. Especially if they are invited and come for the culture program. Martine Willekens from Amsterdam has to think about it for a while – because initially she mainly noticed what was not finished – but then she says: “Ward Janssen’s art walk is really surprising. And the pavilion of the new museum M is also worth a visit. There are the flowers that give the Floriade color.”
A version of this article also appeared in NRC Handelsblad on 16 April 2022
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of April 16, 2022
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