Here are some somewhat random photos of our last 3 days in Amsterdam - a weekend, so a bit busy in the height of vacation season in July! Jim took almost all the photos here. The comments will be brief to give you time to just flip through the photos :-)
This car is a "Fisker" - never heard of it, but it was plugged in to an electric source along the canal and had solar panels embedded in the roof. Pretty cool.
We went to Foam -a favorite little photo museum - where the current exhibit includes some of the many works of the well-known American photographer Gordon Parks. As the brochure said "Gordon Parks took photos like a cameraman, composed images like a musician and strung them together like a poet into sentences and narratives that spoke volumes about their subject."
An art deco staircase at the Amsterdam City Archives
Jim sitting with a glass of wine in the garden at the flat we're staying in. Yesterday it got above 70 degrees F. It's been a little chilly here most days, in comparison with the dreadful heat wave in Annapolis where it's been in the +90s and very humid for days.
A wonderful spot for lunch today
At the Amsterdam Museum we were blown away by an extensive exhibit of Puck and Hans fashions - big names from the 1970s in trendy Dutch design
Sunday is a busy day on the canals. As we stood chatting with a guy in a boat while he waited to get under the bridge we were on, he yelled up to us "Yeah, and on a SUNNY day the traffic jams are enough to give you a heart attack!"
A tangerine Tesla in our neighborhood
Ok, so who knew a bike could be the height of fashion as wall art in a chic living room?
The bakeries here are super-hard to pass by without going in and ordering 'way too many pastries just because they look and smell so good This one with the wood Art Deco facade and chandeliers was very warm and inviting.
How did these bikes end up in the air?
Rain coming - we leave the flat every morning with raincoats and umbrellas...
This bike with the flames on the chassis has a bit of a flat
Red and white and green
We sheltered from a bit of rain in this cafe...
...and watched a little girl named Stella put on a song and dance show for us as her mom and a friend drank coffee.
Gorgeous flowers
We've taken quite a few photos of things written in English on shop windows, plywood at construction sites, etc
A typical scene - mom driving, kid and packages and flowers all bundled in the carrier in front
At the base of this stand of brooms and mops in front of a store.....
...was this bolted-down bike pump. Sort of like doggie bars in front of stores in the US. Convenient for passers-by with flat tires.
An ice cream store with lots of tow-headed kids out front
This dog's name was "Hilly" His owner, the one in the leopard pants, has his name tattooed on her arm.
A guy chopping wood in front of his wood-fired pizza shop
The rooms at this end of this building can't be very wide.
Me in front of a canal houseboat with lots of flowers in pots and window boxes
We went into the hotel Pulitzer to take a look around. This is the guy at the coffee bar. I don't know how he manages this hairstyle, but it's impressive.
And this is a pretty bike in the lobby of the Pulitzer
And this is their special, private canal boat for tours
Aren't these horses beautiful? And so patient when avoiding the cars, bikes, motorbikes and pedestrians.
The "Borneo". With a name like that this boat should have been in an old film.
The narrowest house we've seen so far. Apparently tradition has it that you're taxed on the width of your building, so guess what happens?
Yessssss, peach melba!!
Another one of those messages written in English
The hydrangeas in the garden. Nice late-day light
Ok so these kids gave me a scare. They were playing in the street with a long strip of white paper you can see hanging from the second story window. The paper tore in the middle. The little girl climbed up about 12 feet on two levels of roofs (grey in the photo) to try grab the paper which kept floating upward in the breeze. I was sure she was going to fall and break her neck, but her mom was in the window watching...
Me in sunshine somewhere, in a thick sweater in mid-July!
The entrance at the Foam photo museum
More cute kids in bike carriers
What the heck are these big towers everywhere with ads plastered on them?
Another one...
Coco's Outback. "Lousy Food, Warm Beer". Hope that tag line works for them.
A beautiful woman in pink leaving the chapel at the Begijnhof. The Begijnhof was a Catholic convent of sorts started in the 14th century for unmarried or widowed women who lived religious lives without taking monastic oaths. It's a small quiet oasis in the middle of a bustling city, with tiny, now-rented apartments around a peaceful central green space.
The chapel interior at the Begijnhof.
Scene outside the chapel. Love the blue helmet.
Oops. A bit out of order. This is back at the Puck and Hans exhibit of trendy, pricey Dutch fashion in the 1970s.
ANOTHER one of these huge things with advertising...
The very formal garden of the Van Loon Canal House. Once owned by a family whose kids inherited a lot of art and then sold much of it to the Louvre and the Riiksmuseum.
One of the many rooms inside the house. Of course there are no bathrooms, because bathrooms didn't exist when this house was built and inhabited. Apparently you just used a chamber pot and threw the contents out the window.
And then it was a short walk home for a glass of wine and a quiet evening!
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