Upon arriving back to Amsterdam from our Keukenhof tour, we had plenty of daylight and stamina left to explore and eat. We went on a 70 minute canal ride and toured the Van Gogh museum.
As the bus drove back into Amsterdam from Keukenhof, we passed the front of Dam Square - the most famous square in Holland. The tall white obelisk is a national monument in memory of those who lost their lives in the Second World War.
This is where Amsterdam became a fishing village in 1270...the villagers built a dam to stop the flow of the Amstel river at this location...and to this day it is a famous meeting spot for young people, tours and important events in the city.
We ate at another pancake house close by...I once again had an enormous, sweet pancake, and Mark had a cheese and bacon pancake...
...loved my Dutch pancake!
But Mark not so much. (Mark didn't like his so much, that is!)
The canals in Amsterdam are beautiful. We went on a 70-minute canal ride in and around the city....and traveled through just a small part of the more than 100 kilometers of canals.
The canals in Amsterdam are beautiful. We went on a 70-minute canal ride in and around the city....and traveled through just a small part of the more than 100 kilometers of canals.
The canals have been a part of the city's landscape since the early 14th century!
Originally three semi-circular canals were built, starting at the city center near the train station and spanning the width of the city. Hundreds of narrower canals fanned out from these...over 1,200 canals in all.
Along our tour we saw many tall and narrow homes that are characteristic of this area.
This is the Westerkerk...the church that has the highest bell tower in Amsterdam, and is located almost next to the home of Anne Frank.
We learned that just underneath the top eave of each home or building, there is a beam protruding out from the facade. You can see the beams at the tops of the buildings in the picture below.
Large hooks are attached to the bottom of the beams. People would, and still do thread rope through the hook, and the bottom of the rope is tied to cargo that is then hoisted up to the higher floors of the building by pulling on the other end of the rope. Below we see a rope hanging from a hook, and workers that have used the rope for hoisting.
There are over 1,500 bridges that span the hundreds of canals.
The bridges and canals are quite beautiful, and also very useful. The usefulness of the bridges is obvious, and the canals are useful for getting around the city and for recreation - parades, boating, ice skating. For some, the canals are where they live...in their houseboats...over 1,000 of them!
Over 25% of the people in Amsterdam don't own a car...we were told that it is very hard to find parking spaces....and bikes have the right of way in this city.
Below is the first two "I amsterdam" sculpture-signs in the city. This one is across the harbor from the Central Station....
....and the second one (below) is near the Van Gogh and Rijksmuseums. They are popular signs...we had a hard time getting a picture without too many tourists in the shot. There is a Pickett here if you look closely enough!
Back to the canal tour, we traveled in the harbor where we saw a few larger ships anchored.
Amsterdam is often referred to as "Venice of the North". We were so glad we could experience traveling on these amazing canals!
Our last activity of the day was a self-guided tour of the Van Gogh museum.
Visitors are not allowed to take pictures inside the museum, but here are snapshots of some of my favorite postcards.
I really liked taking this tour! We hadn't known much about Van Gogh previously, aside from recognizing some of his art work.
We learned how Vincent Van Gogh became an artist, how his style developed and how he was influenced by other artists.
We understood and appreciated this artist more after seeing and hearing about some of his creations.
The picture below is my favorite...
What a great day we have had in Holland!
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