i don't actually know that whole song,
just that it peter bjorn & john have a song called "amsterdam"
and that's how it starts...
anyway...
AMSTERDAM!
i didn't know this until my dutch physical therapist told me in september,
but tulips are a major export from the holland...
which turned out to be quite wonderful for me since
tulips are my favorite flowers!
they even have a tulip festival!
we began our day by going to the van gogh museum!
this painting (that i snuck..) of almond blossoms is one of my favorites
(along with irises & starry, starry, night)
just another afternoon in a pub
(this beer = very good)
the royal palace in all of its glory...
sometimes we take good photos...
just never together
one of the first stops on our walking tour
"old church"
in the heart of the red light district
houses along the canals
(the amsterdam citizens fought for a law that makes it
mandatory for all dutch houses must keep their original facades = love)
a lot of the houses are crooked (:
view from the widest bridge in amsterdam
swan in the red light district
headquarters of the dutch east inda trading company!
it's so weird to visit places important in my history textbooks
this used to be a post office
... and now it's a mall
that little red sliver?
that would be the narrowest house in amsterdam
westertoren and the streets around it
towards the end of our tour,
our tour guide told us that in the canals there are three layers:
at the top, water
at the bottom, sludge
and in between = bicycles
that's right, there are tons of bicycles in all of the canals.
the dutch play a game where (when they are really drunk.. or not?)
they try to find bikes that are unlocked.. then toss them into the canals
the biggest splash "wins"
at any given point at a canal, at least 4 bikes can be fished out!
and more recently,
some dutch have found a new challenge:
smart cars (:
that dutch sense of humor...
we love amsterdam.
awww you guys are soo cute :)
ReplyDeleteI'm dying to see Amsterdam...it's looks beautiful!!!
ps. i left you a blog award over at my little place :)
man it must be really fun living in that narrow house. and, of course there's a church in the red light district. where else would it be?
ReplyDeleteamsterdam looks like lots of fun! the photos are great and the flowers are lovely!
ReplyDeleteI've been to the palace - thats opposite Madame Tussauds Amsterdam :D
ReplyDeleteI've also stood in front of Singel 7 (I think thats the address of the thinnest house). I didn't know about the law to keep the original facades.
We went to Olde Kerk to go to a photography exhibition - the walk there wasn't too bad it was the walk back out again that was a little interesting (I never realised how interesting pavements could be hehe)
@Danny there is at least two, and one of those is actually in the attic of one of the buildings.