This year marks the 60th annual Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa, and individuals planning Canadian train vacations this spring should plan on spending at least one pleasant afternoon surrounded by scores of colorful flowers.

Throughout the nation's capital, more than one million tulips in 50 varieties start to bloom in the beginning of May. In Commissioners Park alone, some 300,000 fragrant flowers create a dynamic natural painting. These flowers have come to symbolize international friendship and each year Ottawa serves as a beautiful meeting ground for people from all over the world.

As the largest tulip showcase on the planet, this festival has a rich history spanning back to World War II. In 1945, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands gifted Ottawa with 100,000 tulip bulbs in appreciation of the city for providing protection to the Dutch Royal Family during the war. In honor of the open relationship with The Netherlands, this event has become the "festival without fences," and all of the park events are free.

Every spring, hundreds of thousands of people from North America, Europe, Asia and individuals on train trips across Canada visit the festival that has made Ottawa the tulip capital of North America.