Amsterdam, Canals and 16th Century buildings, and lots and lots of walking after the canal cruise.
This morning we awoke to a blazing sunrise as we sailed into Amsterdam.
As we were walking to the canal boat for our canal cruise we got our first taste of the tulips. The walkway was lined with pots and pots of tulips.
We hopped aboard our canal boat and headed out to explore the canals.
Along the canal near Centraal Station
After WW2 Amsterdam had a housing shortage so they developed the custom of people living in houseboats along the canals. Many people still do this today. Some boats have been built on to and others are just regular boats.
Of course there are many many bridges. Quite a few are like this with a larger opening in the middle for larger boats and smaller openings on the sides. There is a central control that keeps in contact with the boats and knows where all the boats are so boats can be warned if something is coming toward them around a corner.
Most buildings in Amsterdam are built on wooden pilings. When air gets to those pilings they start to rot and the houses start to tilt…. This one is tilting a bit.
The ship bridge
There are seven bridges all in a line that you can see through here. I only counted six….
Many of these homes have protruding wooden beams at the top of the house. They fasten hooks to these and attach ropes to haul things up and through the windows to get large heavy items into the upper stories. Some of the homes are built so that the upper floors lean out so that things pulled up with the ropes don’t break the windows as the are lifted up.
Some of the bridges are quite old
As you go under the bridges on each bridge you see little cut out places with iron bars. These were so that a long time ago when boats didn’t have motors you could pull them through the bridge with ropes.
Enjoying our canal cruise
We learned that 15,000 bikes are fished out of the canals every year! Our guide joked that if you fall in the canal don’t worry, you will just land on a bike and can climb right back out.
All along the canals there are low metal pipe railings. These were put there by auto insurance companies. There were so many cars rolling into the canals that it was cheaper for them to put up these railings than to pay the auto claims…
After lunch on the TUI Isla we headed out toward Centraal station and the shopping district
Centraal Station, the main train station
The palace
More Tulips!
We have seen all kinds of bikes, bikes for hauling kids, bikes for hauling groceries, bikes for hauling everything but this was the only bike we saw built like a wooden clog.
Tomorrow we leave our cruise on the TUI Isla and head to a hotel. Then it’s off to Keukenhof Gardens to see the tulips. Really looking forward to it!
Amsterdam is very beautiful I think. Jacob and Karen live in the Hague which is not as pretty. I've never been anywhere that had as many canals and bridges. When Jacob first moved to Amsterdam he was riding over a bridge and the wind blew his favorite hat into the canal! I don't know if you noticed, but Amsterdam can be very windy. Jacob says people like to swim in the canals when it is hot but he never does. He says it is full of bicycles and probably dead bodies! The Dutch built their houses narrow and tall (probably to lower the footprint they would have to have on stilts) A lot of the buildings along the ca…