Photo Gallery #67-
Amsterdam Sights and Views, Part I
Too
many people have only one perception of Amsterdam: the
pot-smoking, porn-shop toting, (legal) prostitution capital
of the world.
While those things certainly exist, they're a tiny fraction
of the Netherlands'
largest city, and about the only people who patronize them
anyway are tourists. Look a little closer though, and you
find an incredibly scenic and cultured city....
Part
II
Click any of the thumbnails to
see a larger version in a separate window
| |
To
get from Strasbourg to Amsterdam I took an all-day train
ride, beginning in Selestat, near Aurélie's village,
to Strasbourg, Brussels (via Luxembourg), and finally
Amsterdam.
|
For
the last leg (Brussels-Amsterdam), I caught the Thalys,
the high-speed train that can get you from central Paris
to Amsterdam in just over three hours. It actually could
be even faster, but the train only travels at its full
speed (300kph) between Paris and Brussels. |
|
| |
Amsterdam's
'Centraal Station,' currently under construction
as the city works on a new subway line. |
Leaving
the station, the main artery is the Damrak,
leading to Dam Square, the site of the original dam
which claimed the first piece of land that eventually
claimed the city from the water.
|
|
| |
The
World War II monument in Dam Square- the Netherlands suffered
several years of Nazi occupation, and the monument commemorates
both this and the loss of the majority of the country's
sizable Jewish community at the hands of the Germans.
In the background, you can see Amsterdam's City Hall. |
A
typical Amsterdam late-afternoon along the canals. |
|
| |
Near
sunset, in the Nieuwmarkt district. |
|
|
|
The
Dutch are famous for their love of bicycles- when I lived
there in 2002, I remember reading that there were (at the
time) 16 million people in the Netherlands and 16.5 million
bicycles- it's probably gone up since then. |
| Just
before sunset in the Vondelpark, an open area perfect
for jogging, dog walking, or simply meandering around. |
|
|
The
park's partially-frozen lake. |
| One
of the city's hundreds of churches, on the edge of the Vondelpark. |
|
|
While
I was in Amsterdam I also took the chance to do some more
conventional tourist stuff- one morning I went to the
'Heineken Experience,' at the former headquarters of the
Heineken Brewery. |
The
original copper 'mash tanks,' which were used to create
the hop, barley, yeast and water mixture that would eventually
become the beer. You might be wondering already, so I'll
answer- yes, you do get free beer as part of the tour. |
|
|
Old
Heineken ads from around the world- today, it's the single
largest beer brewer on the planet. |
Part
of the exhibit was a view of Heineken's reach around the
world, including Africa. It may be here, but you can't
find a bottle of it in Chad. |
|
|
Thanks
to a free pass provided by a friend, I also had a chance
to check out a few of the dozens of museums scattered
around the city, like the Rijksmuseum (National
Museum), probably the largest collection of Dutch art
in the world. |
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)