Three story bike rack at Central Station in Amsterdam. 40% of the traffic in Amsterdam is bikes.
Street scene, our first day in Amsterdam. We weren't able to check into our houseboat until the afternoon so we checked our luggage into lockers at the station and wandered around, had lunch and took a bus tour.
After our first meal in Amsterdam. We had a nice time sitting at a sidewalk cafe and watching all the people and bikes. Mary was going to take a picture of each meal that she ate, but didn't remember that until we had eaten everything. Meals at restaurants were somewhat more expensive than at home, but the cost does include tax and tip.
Scary stairs down to the restroom at the cafe.
Cool lampost Holly found while we were waiting for our bus tour.
Not exactly gargoyles, but close.
Bus for our bus tour around the city.
Holly taking snapshots (of me) on the bus.
Tour stopped at a diamond factory. These are the demos they use to show the different cuts of diamonds.
These are the criteria they use to classify diamond. There are 4 categories, and the list under each category shows the highest grade at the top down to the lowest grade at the bottom. So the most expensive diamond would be based on the size (carats), Color = River, Clarity = Perfect (no inclusions), and the cut.
This guy was demonstrating how diamonds are ground. He would look at it through his scope then grind the diamond some more (see the next photo).
The diamond he was grinding is tiny - it's clamped in a large handheld tool so he can grind it.
Not a weight set! This is a rack of grinding "stones" that they can mount on the table to grind diamonds.
Front of the diamond factory (Gassan Diamonds)
Deftware - This shows how the delftware starts as a simple bisque vase, then is painted with a black glaze. After that they dip it in a clear glaze, then fire it. The black turns blue when fired and the clear coat turns shiny.
The delftware is all handpainted.
Multi-color delftware.
Little villages for decorating at christmas time
Self-portrait - riding the tour bus.
Our houseboat
Our houseboat. 38G Nicolaas Wittsenkade
View from our houseboat deck.
View from the deck into the living room/kitchen.
View from the kitchen window.
Back in Amsterdam: This is one of our neighbor boats on the canal.
All through the canals of Amsterdam are these long tour boats. They hold about 60 people and run all day from 10am to about midnight. We had them going by our houseboat a lot but it was fun to see the people, not intrusive.
Just a sample of how Amsterdamers use their bike. Sometimes the whole family was on one bike. Many times we saw people riding on the back, and they also have bikes with big boxes on the front to hold up to 3 kids. And nobody wears helmets! You don't see younger children riding their bikes out on the busy streets. The youngest we saw were teens.
Self-portrait on one of the canals. Herengracht I think.
Beautiful houses along the Herengracht canal. Most of these houses were built in the 16-1700s.
Canal scene from a bridge
Westerkerk (Western Church). Near the Anne Frank house.
Monument to all the gay and lesbian people who have died because of their sexual orientation. (This is near the Anne Frank house).
Closeup of the english text
The monument is three pink triangles.
Albert Cuyp Straat. A really long street market selling everything from clothes to fresh fish. This was very close to our houseboat.
A shot I snuck inside the Van Gogh museuam (not supposed to take photos there).
Holly outside the Van Gogh museum.
On Wednesday we took the train from Amsterdam to Haarlem and Delft for a daytrip.
Amsterdam Centraal train station. The trains were very reliable, efficient, and fast. But usually not air-conditioned, or well-ventilated.
Arriving at Haarlem.
There is a huge gothic church in the middle of Haarlem, in the middle of their town square.
Grote Kerk
Grote Kerk, market square
Market square. i bought my first (only?) cone of frites here. Frites (fries) are fried twice here so the outside is very crispy, inside soft. They are served with mayo, not ketchup. And we were informed that frites were invented in Belgium, not in France.
