Weekend in Amsterdam

One of the great things about living in England is our proximity to so many other European cities. On a recent April weekend we hopped a plane for just about a one hour flight to Amsterdam. We had beautiful sunshine all weekend, although it was a tad chilly yet in Holland. Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, and it's name is derived from "a dam in the Amstel" River. Founded in the 1200's, it began as a fishing village. The famous canals were added about 300 years later. They began as a system for transportation, water management, and defense.

This area is known as the "7 Bridges". Here you can see 4 of them.

Sightseeing boats travel through the canals for the tourists, like us!

It was a beautiful sunny weekend, so there was lots of boat traffic on the canals.

Amsterdam has a beautiful market area with lots of local products including all sorts of flowers and plants, wooden shoes, cheese, and, yes, cannabis. We took a couple of photos in the market.

Every sort of Dutch cheese you can imagine
is available in these little shops. 

Lots of wooden shoes for sale in this shop!

Amsterdam remained neutral at the start of World War II but Hitler just couldn't leave the city alone, so he invaded in May of 1940. Some residents of the city sheltered Jews. More than 100,000 Dutch Jews were deported to Nazi Concentration Camps. One of the most famous, Anne Frank, lived with her family and some family friends hidden away in the back of her father's warehouse. We visited the Anne Frank House, which has been turned into a museum. Anne died in the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp just about a month before the prisoners were liberated. Her father, Otto, was the only family member to survive.

Anne Frank House and Museum

Our hotel was located in Dam Square, right in the heart of the oldest part of Amsterdam. Directly across from our hotel is the Palace. Preparations were underway for a huge celebration during the week after we left. Queen Beatrix planned to step down. Her son, Willem-Alexander, was crowned the new King, and his wife, Princess Maxima, became the new Queen. Millions of people filled the squares and streets to greet the new King and Queen.

There was lots to see and do in Amsterdam! We visited the van Gogh Museum, home to the largest collection of van Gogh's in the world. We enjoyed a photography walking tour where we learned a little of the history of Amsterdam whilst also learning a little about how to take better photos. And we even did a walking tour of the famous "Red Light District". It was actually quite fun!

This is NOT our rental car! We came across this vehicle as we were walking along on our photography tour. Scott and our photographer guide both seemed to love this car (huh?!) so we posed for a photo op. Look carefully at the buildings in the background. No, it's not trick photography or some kind of fancy photo editing. The old buildings in Amsterdam are slowly sinking! Their wooden foundations have dry rotted over the centuries, and so it's not uncommon to find buildings leaning to one side or another. Luckily, they can be saved. Unfortunately, it's neither an easy nor inexpensive process!