The skies cleared as we put Germany to our rudder and set our sights on Holland. Blue skies, green pastures and even a windmill.
Just driving through town trying to find the hotel we could already see that this city was built to be photographed. At every turn there was yet another picturesque canal lined with boats, bike and architecture that was to die for. We wandered the city a bit and visited the Anne Frank House before my peepers were too pooped to go on. We had an early evening so I could recuperate for the city tour we'd signed up the next day.
Our city tours meeting point was at the heart of the city, a main square called Damrak. The Dam derives its name from its original function: a dam on the Amstel River, hence also the name of the city. Built in approximately 1270, the dam formed the first connection between the settlements on the sides of the Amstel river. Eventually the township that formed took on the name Amsterdam.
The square was bustling with the all the usual passers by, as well as this little carnival that looked like it was set up for Halloween. There was a lot of great souvenir stores and you know me, I can't help but climb in anything over sized like that awesome fiber glass clog! We enjoyed a little stroll around the square as we were waiting for the tour to begin.
Once on board the bus, our incredibly gifted tour guide proceeded to narrate the tour in THREE languages, not even including her native tongue of Dutch. English, Spanish and French, it was quite impressive, with hearing the English first and then having a small working knowledge of both Spanish and French I definitely didn't miss any points of the tour. We first drove through town on our way out to one of the 6 windmills in Amsterdam its self. A family actually lives in the windmill, so we were only able to take pictures of the outside, but it was still really cool.
Throughout the tour, we would have been hard pressed to find a building that wasn't exquisitely adorned, or a canal bridge that wasn't absolutely picturesque.
Once you get over the breath taking architecture you start to notice the INSANE number of bicycles EVERYWHERE!! There are over 600,000 bicycles throughout the city, many of them old and rusty. Our tour guide said that since the theft rate of bikes is so high, that most people prefer to have a old rickety bike because its less likely to get lifted than something shiny and new. There is also a very large flea market in town where you can go to buy your stolen bike back!
Another part of Amsterdam's fame includes is reputation as diamond producer. As part of our city tour we were taken to the Gassan Diamond Factory where they cut and polish raw diamonds into the sparkling gems you see at the jewelry store. They talked to us about the "4 C's" of diamond grading: Color, Clarity, Cut, and Carat. They also showed us the equipment used in the most important part of the diamond production process, the polishing. They actually had several stations with polishers working at them so we could see the real process.
After some free coffee and a hot dutch waffle we made our way back to the bus and back to the Damrak where we caught our canal tour boat. This city is beautiful from every angle! We went out into the bay and heard some facts about the busy port of Amsterdam, and then headed back into town, winding our way through the city on the maze of canals.
Back on solid ground, we hot footed it through the "red light" district and saw for our selves the famed window prostitutes. The atmousphere was not nearly as overt as I had expected it to be, there seemed to be houses of regular people mixed in among those adorned with heavy red velvet curtains, and red porch lights.
Unfortunately we were short on time, and were forced to head back to the car, but every step of our journey revealed more and more quaint and photo-worth aspects of the city.
Our last stop, which took a little doing to find, was the famed "I Amsterdam" sign in the museum square. I must say it took about an hour for us to find, but it was well worth it! Just one of those things you can't leave without seeing, and getting a great photo of! As the noon turned to after, we found ourselves on the road again, headed to our next destination...Brussels, Belgium.
Just driving through town trying to find the hotel we could already see that this city was built to be photographed. At every turn there was yet another picturesque canal lined with boats, bike and architecture that was to die for. We wandered the city a bit and visited the Anne Frank House before my peepers were too pooped to go on. We had an early evening so I could recuperate for the city tour we'd signed up the next day.
Our city tours meeting point was at the heart of the city, a main square called Damrak. The Dam derives its name from its original function: a dam on the Amstel River, hence also the name of the city. Built in approximately 1270, the dam formed the first connection between the settlements on the sides of the Amstel river. Eventually the township that formed took on the name Amsterdam.
The square was bustling with the all the usual passers by, as well as this little carnival that looked like it was set up for Halloween. There was a lot of great souvenir stores and you know me, I can't help but climb in anything over sized like that awesome fiber glass clog! We enjoyed a little stroll around the square as we were waiting for the tour to begin.
Once on board the bus, our incredibly gifted tour guide proceeded to narrate the tour in THREE languages, not even including her native tongue of Dutch. English, Spanish and French, it was quite impressive, with hearing the English first and then having a small working knowledge of both Spanish and French I definitely didn't miss any points of the tour. We first drove through town on our way out to one of the 6 windmills in Amsterdam its self. A family actually lives in the windmill, so we were only able to take pictures of the outside, but it was still really cool.
Throughout the tour, we would have been hard pressed to find a building that wasn't exquisitely adorned, or a canal bridge that wasn't absolutely picturesque.
Once you get over the breath taking architecture you start to notice the INSANE number of bicycles EVERYWHERE!! There are over 600,000 bicycles throughout the city, many of them old and rusty. Our tour guide said that since the theft rate of bikes is so high, that most people prefer to have a old rickety bike because its less likely to get lifted than something shiny and new. There is also a very large flea market in town where you can go to buy your stolen bike back!
Another part of Amsterdam's fame includes is reputation as diamond producer. As part of our city tour we were taken to the Gassan Diamond Factory where they cut and polish raw diamonds into the sparkling gems you see at the jewelry store. They talked to us about the "4 C's" of diamond grading: Color, Clarity, Cut, and Carat. They also showed us the equipment used in the most important part of the diamond production process, the polishing. They actually had several stations with polishers working at them so we could see the real process.
After some free coffee and a hot dutch waffle we made our way back to the bus and back to the Damrak where we caught our canal tour boat. This city is beautiful from every angle! We went out into the bay and heard some facts about the busy port of Amsterdam, and then headed back into town, winding our way through the city on the maze of canals.
Back on solid ground, we hot footed it through the "red light" district and saw for our selves the famed window prostitutes. The atmousphere was not nearly as overt as I had expected it to be, there seemed to be houses of regular people mixed in among those adorned with heavy red velvet curtains, and red porch lights.
Unfortunately we were short on time, and were forced to head back to the car, but every step of our journey revealed more and more quaint and photo-worth aspects of the city.
Our last stop, which took a little doing to find, was the famed "I Amsterdam" sign in the museum square. I must say it took about an hour for us to find, but it was well worth it! Just one of those things you can't leave without seeing, and getting a great photo of! As the noon turned to after, we found ourselves on the road again, headed to our next destination...Brussels, Belgium.
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