Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is pretty low key here in Holland. Hallmark has some work to do in order to catch up to the US. I've seen some cards and sweets at the stores, but not everywhere. The girls did not decorate boxes for Valentine parties at school, nor did we spend time addressing Valentine's for their classmates. Tessa's class did a small heart art project, but Allie's teacher didn't even mention Valentine's Day. Chris bought all 3 of his girls beautiful roses and he didn't have to fight the crowd of men in line or pay an exorbitent amount for them. This is one aspect of living here that I love-flower stands on every corner.

Many of the flowers sold in the US pass through the Netherlands before reaching the US. Holland is the leading exporter of tulips, as well as other flowers. The US now gets most its roses from South America, but they used to come from Holland. Fifteen minutes south of us is the world largest flower auction in the world. My mom and I visited it in December and were amazed at how it all works. It is important to arrive by 7:30am, because by 9am the auction is over and the flowers are being sent out of the warehouse to their buyers. We walked through an enormous warehouse and saw the trolleys of flowers being moved all around and the flowers being auctioned off. Everyday 48 million flowers and plants are auctioned and shipped around the world(16 million euros worth) within 24 hours. Here is a timetable of how it works.

5pm Tens of thousands of growers from all over Europe, Africa, South America and the Middle East send flowers to FloraHolland(the auction site here)

10pm Flowers are received from transport companies and stored in different refridgerators, depending on the type of flower

4am Flowers are inspected for quality and sent to the auction warehouse

6am Auction starts with thousands of buyers bidding on flowers in 12 different auction halls

7am After flowers are sold, they are moved to the distribution area and packaged to send out to the buyers

11am Flowers are sent out around the world by truck and plane

4pm The flowers are in the stores and sold to the customer

This was an incredible place to visit. The speed at which flowers are sold and the enormity of the warehouse is unbelievable. After touring here, I have a little more appreciation for the flowers that I see being sold at the corner market. A definate 'must see' if you cmoe to Holland or if you live here.