After an uneventful flight on Icelandair we arrived in the Netherlands and made our way by train and tram to our home exchange home - a garden flat in a historic building on this beautiful canal in the center of Amsterdam.
Here is a photo of our garden. The weather has been cool and a bit overcast - a welcome change from the record-breaking heat and humidity of Annapolis, where yesterday it was about 105 F compared to 65 F here. The next photo is the flower stall on a canal bridge nearby.
More canal boats, bridges and steeples. I love cities built on waterways. And the other photo is of the reflection of typical building facades in the window of a coffeeshop near our flat.
The Netherlands is such a great place to visit. The Dutch are super tolerant, laid back, creative, industrious, aware, multicultural, and welcoming to tourists. Our first day in Amsterdam was spent wandering around the neighborhood called De Pijp. As you can see from the photos below, the Dutch have a sense of whimsy and irreverence. To just walk the streets is entertaining - we smiled and laughed a lot! People are friendly and helpful and the little kids are great.
This sign was outside a juice bar. It reads "Free Juice and Topless Bartenders. False Advertising." It sorta reminded us of American politics these days, in a much more lighthearted way :-) The flip side reads: "Sex sells. Unfortunately, we sell juice".
A t-shirt at the market
A cake shop along the way had pretty outrageous stuff in the window.
This soup can scuplture is HUGE.
Enlarge to read these
Lots of people-watching over a glass of wine and a beer at the market...
Wigs to go with any outfit!
And an ancient Coca-Cola case for sale
YES YES YES....PLEASE I want to move there NOW! Looks wonderful! Thanks for the great blogging. Hayden...in PA
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