Amsterdam

An over night stop - with 10:00 kebab for dinner and an early morning walk before walking to the train station was our quick taste of Amsterdam.

We stayed in a beautiful neighborhood, the Jordaan, near the Anne Frank House.  Anne heard the bells of Westerkerk sing the hours from her hiding place just a couple of doors down the street. 

Rembrandt knew this neighborhood with it's canals and tall narrow buildings.

You can't see it very well, but each house has an apparatus at the center top to help move things to the upper floors.  Bringing things in through the window is much better than going up those small stairways.  Some of the houses are a little tipped out at the top.  I suppose to protect the windows as things are hoisted up.

 

Rembrandt lived before Amsterdam became a bicycle haven.  We saw people in those early morning hours heading to work on their bikes along the narrow lanes that are only wide enough for one car.  There were cars parked along the way, but many more bikes than cars.  We saw into a downstairs bike garage

The train station had a double decker bike garage with hardly a car insight.  And the train ride to and from the airport was amazingly smooth and easy.  This three wheeled truck was about the right size for the streets