Amsterdam is a great city. It is cosmopolitan and filled with people, but
there isn't the sense of crowdedness that pervades most other cities. Alot
of this probably has to do with the large number of canals
and the beautiful houses that line them.
Many people take their boats out for a
spin. All these canals tend to break up
the flow of people and allow sections of the town to hide away quietly.
With so many canals there are bound to be some interesting bridges. The Blauwbrug
("Blue Bridge") is partly modelled after the Alexander III bridge
in Paris, and has some interesting lampposts.
Most people arrive in Amsterdam via the Centraal
Station, a beautiful train station situated upon the IJ
river. Even if you fly into Schipol Airport, a train will bring you into
the center of town at Centraal.
Some major focal points in the city are Leidseplein,
which often has groups of mostly tourists watching a fire-eater or "suicycle"
rider (in the picture provided you can see one such group at the base of the
KLM building) and Nieuwemarkt, which is in front of De
Waag -- an old portion of the town wall. Another plaza is Dam
square, with the Nationaal Monument
(built for the Dutch who died in World War II), Madame
Tussaud's, Koninklijk Paleis and Nieuwe Kerk (on the left and right in
the photo above, respectively).
Speaking of Kerks (churches), there are several beautiful ones in Amsterdam.
Those include the above Nieuwe Kerk, Ouidje Kerk (which is under major renovations),
Zuiderkerk and Englese
Kerk. Next to the last church is the oldest standing house in Amsterdam:
Het Houten Huys.
There are of course many good museums in Amsterdam, of which I only visited
two: the classic Rijksmuseum and Rembrandt's
House. The Rijksmuseum is a beautiful
building and houses the famous "Night Watch" by Rembrandt.
Another museum that I have a photo of is the Stedelijkmuseum
(which I certainly can't pronounce). Fairly near the Rijksmuseum is the Concert-Gebouw
which has near perfect acoustics for concerts.
Photos of Holland wouldn't be complete without one of a windmill!
