A Year in Amsterdam

Hello again.. as some of you know, I'm spending the next year or so in Amsterdam.. It's all, of course, to do with higher education.. Soooo for the next while you will be seeing pictures of Amsterdam and possibly surrounding areas.. I'm not sure which pictures to show first.. so I'm just going to throw a bunch of pictures from a bunch of different days of me wandering around my area..

Ahh.. why not start with a standard canal picture.. You can always bet on a tourist being on one of these bridges taking a picture of a canal.. I guess that's why they call Amsterdam the Venice of the North... I live just down the road from this canal, if anyone is looking for me...





Another canal!! There are hundreds...



And another!



Ok I'll give you a little break.. Amsterdam is the city of cyclists.. They have their own special biking lanes.. its pretty cool. Bikes bikes bikes.. everywhere.. and I still need one.









The building in the distance has been converted into a shopping mall..





I think I could get used to living here..





Most of the old houses here are leaning in one direction or another due to the loose soil... A few hundred years ago there were severe floods that destroyed much of the city. This led to the construction of a dam on the Amstel river.. and yes.. that's where the name Amsterdam came from.. The city planners actually imported timber.. I think from somewhere in Scandinavia and drilled them into the ground to act as a foundation for much of the city. Most of the old parts of the city are still supported by this underground forest.. I learned this from a quirky Dutchman at our school.

















Do you see the hooks on the houses? I hear that they use them to lift heavy objects up to the top floor, rather than taking the stairs..



A quick snapshot of Waterlooplein market (in the distance).. its an open air flea market.. A great place to find old obscure things.. LP records.. clothes.. DVDs.. ancient stereo equipment.. almost anything.. I'll do a post on that another time..



Here's the train station.. its quite huge.. I think part of it is a train museum as well.









Here's another picture of that canal I first showed u..



Dam Square.. The big building used to be the town hall, but after a royal family was established, they turned the hall into the royal palace.. Now I think its open to the public.. I'm sure the Queen found a nicer, tourist-free place to rest her feet.



Bobo would enjoy this..



I'm not sure what this is for.. it leads from the window all the way to the ground.. A friend of mine suggests that maybe its for a pet.. perhaps!







Here's another picture of that first canal.. back to haunt you! It's easy to take canal pictures!



There are only a few towers in Central Amsterdam.. the tops of them, (like this one) are made from wood, otherwise it would be too heavy, and sink into the ground.





A glimpse of one of the stalls in the flower market.. more of this later...









In the near future expect to see many pictures of rain.