Boy did we walk in Amsterdam. We had a limited amount of time there and we had plans to stop at a few spots but mostly we just wanted to walk along the canals and see what we could see!
In 6 hours we covered a lot of ground from Central station past the national monument, the flower market, Vondelpark and to the Van Gogh museum. Here is roughly the route we took which was about a 45 min walk back to the Central station at the end of our day.
Along the way we did some window shopping (I will post next week some of the great designs I saw in the shops), admired the incredible dutch architecture, meandered along the canals (Singel,Herengracht, Keizersgracht & Prinsengracht), had an ice cream and were thoroughly exhausted by days end. Here are some of the sites along our path.
This was nuts, doesn’t every church have a head shop below/behind it? Only in Amsterdam!
Watch out for the bikes! They will run you over and these kind are used to haul shopping bags, children or whatever!
| I love that this lady had her bike decorated with flowers:) |
Check out this mode of transport!
And I swear this guy turned around just so he could have his picture taken. Love those yellow pants:)
The traditional dutch architecture was really something, I especially loved the dark facades with the curved gables and the intricate masonry!
One of the happiest accidents on our walking tour was coming across the flower market. I was sad not to be able to bring home any plants or bulbs, unfortunately tulips just don’t grow well in my tropical climate. I enjoyed seeing all the lovely blooms and bulbs though.
This is the view of the back side of the market along the Singel canal.
Our final destination (before walking back to the central station) was the Van Gogh museum. This was certainly a highlight for me. I didn’t get any shots inside (I’m sure I would have been promptly escorted out if I had!). This rock display outside the museum was very fun.
I was so glad to have purchased tickets online before we went because the line was very long! This is true for most of the museums in the city, if you go, I strongly suggest you buy your tickets beforehand.
This was the main square where the National Monument is and it reminded me very much of Venice. There were a lot of people milling around (and a few mimes) as well as a fashion show (it was the beginning of fashion week).
I’d love to return to Amsterdam and have a bit more time to explore. We barely scratched the surface but it was a wonderful day!
