Our friends, Andy and Candy Bloom, have “touristed” with us before so they know the marathon it becomes when you have one day to see everything you ever wanted to see in a location you may never come back to. With our comfy shoes all laced up out the door we go to meet Peter and JF.
The first things first, grab a travel guide. Yes Peter was pointing us in all the right directions but the discount tickets are found at the tourist centers. With tickets bought and a plan in mind off we go.
We are stopping at two museums, maybe three if we can squeeze it in but not the typical artwork ones. We don’t have the time and none of us are really into famous art so it was a comfortable exclusion. First things first. Lets tour the city in the day light on foot.
There are few things more fun than coming across those people with crazy ideas that actually turn them into a flourishing business. Sex sells right? Well, here’s a twist on that and of course John has to have his picture taken. Their slogan “eat your clothes off.”
I love all the outdoor cafés. They are quaint and inviting. It just makes me want to sit down and have a croissant and a coffee.
The alleyways between the major streets are so fun. I feel very European walking through here.
With the narrow streets that go in all directions, posting street signs has to be challenging. Amsterdam solved this problem in a unique way that is really very helpful. They post the street names on the buildings at the intersections of the streets.
Public transportation, aside from the bicycles is the most popular form of travel. They stabilize the street car wires by attaching to buildings. Some buildings display family coat of arms too, along with gorgeous slate roofs. It is kind of hard to see but jutting out above the top windows are arms with hooks attached. This is how furniture is moved into the apartments on the upper floors. The stairways are so narrow its the only way to get a couch or washing machine into the living space through the windows.
Also notice that the windows on the bottom are large and as you continue to look up the windows get smaller. Back in the day the taller your building the richer you were. So to create the illusion of a taller building they put small windows on top to make the buildings look taller.
Along with ornate gables some of the buildings have fine shutters.
And seriously, I don’t know which is more impressive, the building or the street lamps.
They are quite polite about their under construction stuff so it doesn’t create unsightliness next to ornate buildings. I love the faux façade.
As we make our way back to the Dam we come across an interesting sculpture and the infamous wooden shoe.
Isn’t there a nursery rhyme about an old woman in a shoe?
I just can’t get over all the different buildings and the architecture.
I must be getting hungry because this one looks like a gingerbread house. This picture is a little skewed from the angle I’m taking the picture from, but it really is tilted. In fact there are a lot of tilted buildings in Amsterdam. The city is built on swamp and marshland on top of wood and concrete pillars sunk into the mud. As the water level rises and falls some of the wood beams start to decay when exposed to air causing the buildings to list.
The fine brick work looks beautiful probably because cars can’t drive on it.
The toy store building drew our eye because of the rich black color.
It is the statues of the building that has caused us to linger.
In the Dam square we witness the pigeon whisperer. Yuck, I’m not sure having wild pigeons land all over you is a healthy thing to do.
My feet hurt. Is it time for a boat ride through the canals, Peter?
