Okay , enough of Old Blighty for the moment , we are headed to Amsterdam for four days . Justin dropped us at the railway station as we had plenty of time to get there , given our flight was taking off at 5:30pm . It was a regular flight with no complications - apart from us 😆 - and we arrived at Amsterdam airport in just over an hour & 20 , breezed through customs and headed to the train , maybe should have been a bus - ah well let's see what happens . We got out a one station and decided to walk the klm or so to the apartment . The sun had us fooled , it was already 1 hr in front of UK , and upon checking , it was 8:30pm . Time to use Bolt again , they picked us up in 8mins and we were there before we knew it . Then it began, the apartment owner's phone went flat , I had to top up my prepaid as well , and we didn't know the exact street no . 4 mins later , we rang again , found out we were on the wrong side of the street and about 20m away . But hey , check our street out - how cool are those trees !!
9:45pm and we needed food for breakfast , supermarket was around the corner , but closes at 10pm - a rushed walk and shop , and we were back in the apartment at 10:15 . By the time we got ourselves organised , it was 11pm , so hit the hay - new day tomorrow .
AFter a reasonable night's sleep we were headed into the city - a tram stop just around the corner - about 200m away - and we were off . The tram terminated outside the Railway Station , Wow , what a railway station it is . The building in the next photo is the station . You can see the trams in front and multiple canal tour boats coming & going . Did I mention the people , it was ridiculous , there were people everywhere , walking the streets , queued for canal cruises , wandering aimlessly around like a couple of little aussies we know 😂 . Apparently there were some cruise boats in town also adding to the mayhem !
With that all happening , I whipped the phone out and googled canal cruises and took the first one that came up for 10mins time , and went and lined up with the throng of others doing the same . We went with these guys .
We figured that we could get our bearings a bit , and see what Amsterdam is famous for - canals & skinny houses with funny tops . We weren't disappointed , got plenty of both !! Houseboats have also surged in numbers here , probably to do with housing shortages etc . The city council haven't missed them , they now charge per square foot of water space taken up ! We passed so many cruise boats , big ones like ours , small ones , medium sized ones , there are so many cruise operators here !!
The canal bridges are interesting and are a strange , but very functional setup . They spilt in the middle and lift up , pivoting at the base , to allow higher vessels through . Another of these bridges appeared in a James Bond film - not sure which one though .
These 7 bridges also appeared in that movie .
And here are some of those funny houses , they were designed to look bigger than they actually were by having larger windows at the bottom , slightly smaller , then smaller again , creating an optical illusion .
Boats are everywhere , but not as prolific as bikes - there are thousands upon thousands of them , there are deicated bike lanes with traffic lights as well !!
As you can see from the aerial spaghetti , tram lines run all over the place , they to , also have their own traffic light system as well - bikes , traffic & people - lights everywhere .
After our cruise , we wandered around to some steps near the canal to eat our lunch and get away from people a bit . This is one of the many churches - St Nicholas Basilica - we sat across from it and were going to go and have a look , but never got there - seemed like there was always something else to do .
We watched cruise boats cruise past us , this one made me laugh ! there was the odd smelling cigarette smoke floating around the place . And talking about smokers , there are millions of them , restaurants , cafes , bars , smokers were everywhere - after being used to what we have in Australia , this was a huge surprise / shock , how can these people not know how bad they are ??????
Another cruise boat .
We took a tram one stop down into the city and found even more people , it can be a struggle to walk in some of the streets due to the numbers - and to make it worse , they walk on the right hand side , not the left like home !!
We found some fresh street art happening - or pausing to chat to some other budding artists .
We were told to beware of certain cookies - we think these were okay 😉
This one caught our eye .
And this .
Deciding to find a toilet was interesting , thankfully we have an app that seems to work worldwide , been good so far . Good old McD's , only one of their shops had no toilets , you had to go round the corner and up a laneway to another street and go into the 3 storey McD's - the toilet was on the top floor , and you had to pay for use - 50 cents a go ! and that erked us a bit , but that's what they do here & other European countries , pay as you go ( or before ) . After a wander around a cathedral - and I do mean around , all around the outside , we found the Danish Royal Palace . It was surrounded by a cobblestone paved forecourt and lots of people & pigeons , some police and someone dressed as the Grim Reaper - not sure why though !
The cathedral didnt seem to have an entrance , so we went into the palace for a look . Seems everything you do here , your hand is regularly in your pocket . It was a small blessing , no backpacks were allowed , so we had to put them in the cloakroom , that was a bit less weight to carry around - the shoulders appreciated it !! After Vienna , we were more prepared for what was to come - more opulence , and no expense spared .
There were 2 lines of bells on the floor , that were in use back in the day , made an interesting display .
There were the obligatory chapels inside as well as rooms for visiting dignatries , dining rooms , great halls , etc , etc, etc . We had an audio guide to here all about it , but glazed over after the 10th room or so .
That was done , and we walked back outside after collecting our backpacks again . The outside of the palace wasn't overly clean , but it seemd to match the streets , they were filthy , with cigarette butts the majority of the pollution .
That was enough for one day , we were over hoards of people and the rubbish on the streets they were responsible for .
We got our tram back home and wandered past some interesting streets , cars everywhere . There are lifting beams coming out of the buildings - they were used for lifting furniture and other bulky items into the apartments , through the large windows , as you couldn't take things up the stairs . The stairs in our place were spiral and very tight to get up & down without fallibg and doing some damage to yourself - even more fun to carry 2 x18kg suitcases up & down !!
I mentioned bikes before , well here's a couple of hundred of them lining the street , and most streets are like this !!
Here's the view out of our apartment balcony on the first floor .
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