Everywhere you looked there were tour buses – Tulipfest is one of Ottawa’s more popular attractions.

It was family time Sunday and we decided to brave the crowds and see the tulips. The plan was to park far away from the action and walk to Dow’s Lake, pretty much the epicentre of the annual Canadian Tulip Festival. It worked.

I think Sunday was probably the busiest day of Tulipfest. The weather was perfect (Sunny and 27 degrees Celsius) and Monday (today) is a holiday so people could spend extra time admiring the flowerbeds and still have today for travel time to get home. The Canadian tourists anyway. It’s a big area and it was full of people. I would guess somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 when we were there.

This type of tulip is called the Vincent Van Gogh. If you are a fan of his art you can understand why.

People really do come from all over the world to see the tulips, but the largest number seem to me to be from Asia. Bus after bus disgorged their passengers. The digital revolution has changed the way we do photography, with phones and tablets outnumbering cameras – and there were a lot of cameras. And, with no processing charges to worry about, everyone was taking lots of pictures.

This variety is called Sensual Touch.

There was a midway, buskers, some sort of Turkish festival, vendors with different crafts and products, and of course food and drink. Lots of food and drink.

The festival has grown exponentially in recent years. I remember family outings to see the tulips, outings where you could see everything without leaving your car; you just drove slowly by the tulip beds.

People still drive slowly by the tulip beds, but they don’t see many flowers from their vehicles. Too many people on foot clustered around them to allow a good view from the road.

A field of Sensual Touch.

We walked for about an hour, looking at the different varieties and colours. Who knew there were so many different types of tulips? I took a lot of pictures, and I will share more with you tomorrow.

The crowds were everywhere.