Amsterdam Canals

    If I could sum up Amsterdam in a few nouns they would be: bikes, canals, Anne Frank, Van Gogh/Rembrandt, and the Red Light District. I wish I could add two other Netherlands staples to the list: windmills and tulips, but they don't quite fit with my experience of Amsterdam. I love tulips, and wish I could have seen the fields of tulips like the ones on the postcards in all the souvenir stores. But tulip growing season occurs for 2 months in the spring, not the end of July, and the closest I got to the Semper Augustus tulip was seeing the big bulb seed being sold at the street markets and souvenir shops. As for windmills, while Amsterdam used to be filled with them, now there is only one left. Jackie and I made sure to ride our bikes out to see it the last morning before we left!

The back view

So no tulips and one windmill in Amsterdam-- at least in July.

     But back to what it does have... our canal tour guide told us that almost every resident of Amsterdam has 2 things: a bike and a boat. Students who go there for University will purchase a cheap row boat and park it in one of the countless canals that make up the city. They don't put forth much effort to maintain it, and if it happens to sink, they'll just buy another used one. (Same goes for the bikes-- separate story, but they pull thousands of bikes up from the canals each year with cranes! People use the canals as big trash cans-- sofas, mattresses, bikes... cars are also found when careless drivers roll over the curbs when trying to park). Then there are the people who live in the houseboats on the canal. There are 2 kinds: the actual large boats, and the houses that float on water. You need permits for either one, and they're almost impossible to get unless you're willing to spend big money and wait a while.

     Amsterdam is filled with canals! It's named Amsterdam because it's a dam on the Amstel River. In the past, it was a small fishing community, but it became huge when it was the main port during the Dutch Golden Age when the Dutch East and West Indies Companies thrived. Amsterdam is sometimes called "Venice of the North" because of all its canals and bridges. The 3 main canals were dug in the 17th century (1600's-- the Dutch Golden Age).

     Here are some photos from our canal tour... it was relaxing, interesting, and hot on the boat! I enjoyed some ice cream while taking in the views :)

I've seen so many beautiful places on my trip so far! Love the canals and blue sky!!!

Waiting for the canal tour to start

The smallest (thinnest) building on the canals! They used to pay property taxes based on how much footage was "on the canal," so these owners tried beating the system with a THIN/narrow front. Apparently the back opens up wide like a regular building (but we didn't get to see the other side).

Pretty facades

House boat on the canal-- people actually live here permanently!

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you-- these are all "crooked!"

7 identical bridges in a row

Love this! This picture says, "You're in Amsterdam!"

I played around with some of the special effects on my camera... my sister looks like she's dreaming here :)

Every building has a hook so that they can carry up merchandise that came off the ships back in the day (since the doors were too small/narrow); they still use them now for bringing in larger furniture (sofas, beds). Building were often angled forward so that when things were carried in through the window, they wouldn't swing and crash the other windows on their way up! 

3 random lady figures at the top of one of the balconies 

One of the many groups we passed on the canals-- it was PERFECT weather for cruising along the canals! People had their snacks and beverages and were just enjoying the sun. There were sooo many different kinds and sizes of boats!

Most of the canal buildings had sidewalks before the water, but there were a few stretches that didn't. These are more like the ones in Venice where the buildings sit directly on the water. 

The Netherlands flag is on the boat right in front of us

If you notice on the sides, you can see how close the cars are to the water. I would REFUSE to parallel park on these streets! I wouldn't even want to open the driver's side door-- I'm clumsy and might accidently fall into the canal!

Another look at the crooked buildings

Some of the bridges folded up so that the larger boats could pass through. The canal bridges even had traffic lights for boats to pass through-- just like a street! 

The church lit up, overlooking the canals, in the evening... Isn't it amazing? It was a beautiful and busy night in the city centre. Wouldn't you want to live someplace like this?

We ate dinner at this restaurant, on the outside terrace, overlooking the canal at night. Lovely!