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| The Seven Bridges Canal |
Amsterdam is the capital and largest city in the Netherlands. The city, which has 165 interconnected canals has around 900,000 residents. It’s estimated that the bike to people ratio in Amsterdam is 1:1, although our guide on a canal cruise strongly disagrees. She feels that there are way more bikes than people, citing that she has three bikes and all of her friends have multiple bikes. It’s not easy, but we managed to dodge bikes for two days without getting hit, or as best as we know, causing an accident. We came to the conclusion that she’s probably right, there are way more bikes than people. Bikes are readily available for rent. However, renter beware…….unless you’re really good, limit your riding to one of the many parks out of the city.
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| A single bike parking spot is the exception….. |
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| This is a more common bike parking spot! |
Next year Amsterdam will be celebrating its 750th anniversary as a city. According to what we heard, plans for a huge celebration are already well underway. Given its reputation as a city where pretty much anything goes, I’ll bet it’s going to be one heck of a celebration.
Without a doubt Amsterdam’s most recognizable feature is its many canals, which has earned the city the nickname “Venice of the north”. Our canal tour guide shared with us that the freshwater canal system was dug by hand. She said the canals were about three meters deep. She claimed there was a meter of mud on the bottom, a meter of water on the top and a meter of old bikes in the middle. Probably only a slight exaggeration.
After averaging around ten miles of walking per day during our four days in London, we took it pretty easy Sunday afternoon. We enjoyed lunch at an outdoor canal side restaurant and roamed the city center for a while. We did visit the Anne Frank House, which is located on a canal near the city center. We purchased a ticket that provided an introductory program followed by a self guided tour through the small area where the Frank family and four others hid for over two years. The introductory program was presented by a high school history teacher who did a great job. The tour of the house was also very interesting. Purchasing tickets in advance is a must and they sell out quickly. Approximately 6 weeks before your arrival check their website. They open slots six weeks in advance and they are generally sold out within one or two days.
Of course throughout the afternoon when we saw a good bench sitting opportunity we made the most of it.
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| Statue of Anne Frank near the house. Photographs are not allowed inside the house. |
We woke up Monday morning, and with a few recommendations from the hotel staff set out with a pretty ambitious game plan for the day. First up was a one hour canal tour. There are multiple vendors that operate from near the train station. Based on the hotel staff recommendation we used Flagship. The cost was 22
Euros (drinks were available for an additional fee). The staff were all friendly and helpful, and the narration, which was in English was informative without getting bogged down to heavily with lists of city facts.
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| Canal Boat Tour. The young lady on the right provided the narration and is the proud owner of three bikes! |
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| These are called the “dancing houses”. It’s not an optical illusion, they are crooked due to settling of the marsh land that are built on. The houses are narrow because the residents were taxed based on the frontage width of the house. Many of them are pie shaped and are wider the further into the house you go. Stairs in the houses are steep and narrow. Furniture and appliances are often hoisted up a pulley and through the windows. |
After the canal tour we enjoyed a one hour walk towards the Albert Cuypstraat Street Market. We then went on to
Vondelpark, which is Amsterdams largest and most famous park. The market, which operates every day of the week except Sunday, was several city blocks long and offers a wide variety of food, drinks, clothes, shoes, and in true Amsterdam style, marijuana based products. The receptionist at the hotel told us we had to get a Rudi’s Stroopwafel. She said you can’t miss them, just look for the line. We saw a line and sure enough it was Rudi’s. The line moved quickly and soon we were enjoying two wafer thin waffles filled with gooey caramel and covered in chocolate.
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| Rudi’s……… |
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| A hot and fresh stroopwafel! |
Our final destination of the day was Vondelpark, which was about a thirty minute walk from the market. Between the market and the park we passed through the museum district. It would be easy to spend a whole day in this area admiring the works of famous artists such as Van Gogh and Rembrandt (both had lived in Amsterdam), but that day will have to be for another adventure sometime in the future.
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| Rijksmuseum |
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| Van Gogh Museum |
We loved our time in the 120 acre Vondelpark. We were amazed at how busy it was for mid-afternoon on a Monday. Later I read that the park has over 10 million visitors per year……..I guess that explains it!
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| One of the many lakes in Vondelpark! |
A couple of interesting things we learned about the park; it contains one of only 300 Picasso statues (The Fish). In 2008 the city council ruled that is was ok for adults to have sex in the park (yep, you read that right). There were a couple of stipulations. First, it couldn’t be near a playground and it should be at night! Ironically at the same time the city council chastised dog owners, proclaiming that they had to do a better job controlling their pups. I guess they were concerned that a couple engaging in the big act might have their “kibbles and bits” chewed on by an out of control dog!
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| The Fish! |
Thankfully we didn’t see any dogs out of control or love making going on. We just saw a bunch of folks ranging in age from young to old enjoying a beautiful afternoon in an amazing park in a really nice city!
It’s on to Paris…….
