King of my castles: some Dutch castles open to the public

Inspired by a feature on the NS magazine, here's a recap of the Dutch royal palaces and other castles open to the public:

Paleis Het Loo, in Apeldoorn, founded by William III and Mary Stuart, which among many other things were also keen amateur botanists and imported flowers and plants from all over the world.

http://www.paleishetloo.nl/en/

Paleis Soestdijk, where Juliana and her controversial husband Bernhard used to live: it has a formal English garden, Wilhelmina's Childhood playhouse and a cafe inside the former Orangerie.

Also, from the end of April till the end of August, it displays giant painted apples with portraits of the Dutch Royal family. Bizarre surely, but certainly original...

https://www.paleissoestdijk.nl/welkom-.html

The Koninklijk Paleis on the Dam in Amsterdam, currently being used by Willem Alexander to receive guests, offers an audio guided tour with a voice-over provided by the former mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen. Apart from that there are also interesting paintings and art pieces...

http://www.paleisamsterdam.nl/en

The ruin of Kasteel Valkenburg looks also pretty impressive, with some romantic spots and a XVIII century chapel. as a bonus it's on the top a hill, always cause of amazement in the flat country.

http://www.de-la-ruine.nl/

All the castles are on the Royal route.

The cult of Yakult

If, like me, you are an aficionado of the look behind the scenes, the factory tour, the "How it's made" show on Discovery Channel, then you are going to love this.

Only for the readers of the AH Magazine (AllerHande - get a copy in one of the 25 AH supermarkets in close proximity of your house), Yakult offers a guided tour of their plant in Almere.

Now, I am not that a particularly big fan of these kind of miracle drinks, however it has to be said that apart from the tour, samples tasting and a goodie bag, you also get a Japanese lunch, so it's totally worth it!

Several dates available in April and May.

With some luck, you might get a lunch like this