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You can live on your boat in an Amsterdam canal. People have taken this one step further and set up abodes on the water that aren’t even boats. If you click on this image for a larger view you can see some of these top-of-the-water dwellings.
I did absolutely no research prior to arriving in Amsterdam last summer. So when I walked out of my hotel to find that I was staying in a district (Leidseplein) with this much nightlife activity I was a bit surprised. Without even participating in the possible debauchery the scene was a trip. Ten shots of Jägermeister for only 10 Euro? And I could get pancakes to go along with that? Or I could head next door to The Bulldog Palace Coffeeshop and order off an extensive menu of legal cannabis. Pot not your thing? Farther down this road you can have your choice of magic mushrooms. Actually you didn’t have to purchase or consume anything to get your head spinning. Just wondering what the mounted police could possibly do while on the back of a horse was enough to send your mind into space.
I found out later in the evening that the hotcakes at Pancake Corner come served with huge scoops of ice cream on top. Weird.
While on an Amsterdam canal cruise tour I took today’s top photo of some Dutch buildings. I think the tour guide was describing the details at the top of each building. The building on the right, by the way, is a “Coffeeshop.” I’m not sure if you can really buy coffee there or not. The main item on the menus in Amsterdam’s coffee shops is marijuana–all perfectly legal.
Anyway, back to the tops of these buildings…
At the top of Amsterdam’s houses you will notice hooks suspended near the top called hijsbalk. With the use of a rope and pulley the Dutch can hoist large, heavy items in and out of their homes rather than have to try and haul them up their steep, narrow staircases.
While scanning the buildings to find examples of this system I came across this one…
One of Amsterdam's many canals at night
Although the photo I previously posted featured perhaps Amsterdam’s most famous spot for night photography, it certainly isn’t the only part of Amsterdam that looks great after the sun sets.
Amsterdam Cycle Chic
Vondelpark in Amsterdam is a great place to ride a bike (or people watch if you don’t have a bike). These ladies rented bikes to enjoy the park.
Aerial view of Amsterdam and Anne Frank Museum
The waterway through the center of this picture is Prinsengracht (Prince’s Canal), which runs in front of the Anne Frank Museum. The line of people at the bottom-center of the photograph is for the Anne Frank Museum. I don’t know if the queue is this long all year long or just the summer, but it didn’t get significantly shorter as the day went on. I initially came to this spot in the morning, but the line was so long that I decided to come back in the afternoon, hoping that the queue would fizzle out (sort of like the line does at St. Peter’s and the Vatican) in the afternoon. The line was a bit shorter later in the day but not much.