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| If you've ever wondered where Rembrandt and his pals got all those skies for their paintings, we found 'em. |
No question, the best way to get around Amsterdam
is the bicycle; the layout and laws of the city are very bike-centric, and
according to one tour guide bicycles outnumber people in Amsterdam by 50%
... Our hotel, unfortunately, was not in the neighborhood we had hoped for
but rather on the edge of Amsterdam's infamous red-light district, and the
ongoing renovation meant that the hotel bar was closed so there wasn't much
opportunity to meet other travelers. But somehow we managed to occupy ourselves.
Anyway, other than the prepaid tickets to the Van Gogh museum in our pockets, we didn't have much of an agenda. So instead of a clever storyline, the last travelog entry is a semi-random photo album.
Amsterdam
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| Plenty of waterfront property in Amsterdam. |
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| Lots of houses have an I-beam sticking out the facade for hoisting grand pianos up & down, since the staircases of these homes are too narrow to accommodate large items. |
Cool architectural feature. |
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| Don't ask, I don't know. |
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| Double parking the Dutch way. |
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| On our second day in Amsterdam we paid a visit to the Rijksmuseum (AKA Rembrandt central). |
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| Surprisingly, you're allowed to take photos in the Rijksmuseum. |
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| Museumplein taxi. |
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| Street art. |
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| Graffiti. |
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| Perhaps you've heard the Dutch are fond of bicycles? |
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| Which can carry more cargo? |
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| More Rembrandt skies. |
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| If the function of a pissoir isn't clear, there's a sign. |
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| Awwwwwwwwww ... we met this fellow in a hippy teahouse near our hotel. |
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| Nice camera, dude; how many megapixels is that thing? |
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| Trust me, this picture makes an excellent desktop. |
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| Two examples of Dutch health food (breakfast and dinner,
respectively; that thing under the chocolate, right, is a waffle).
Other things we ate include pizza, fries (yes, with mayonnaise) —
and yes, shwarma kabobs!! Turns out Amsterdam has a kabob shop on
every block, and even tastier than those in Istanbul ... The big trip
mystery: How I came home weighing five pounds less than when
I left. |
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Not sure what this guy's story is; the Dutch are just weird, I guess. I was sticking my camera out the hotel window to take pictures of the skyline when this guy across the alley started gesturing at me. At first I thought he was flipping me off, as if to say "stinkin' tourist" — but when I put my camera down he made a "Whaaatt??" gesture, so I pointed the camera at him again and when I realized he was giving me thumbs up, I shot. |
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Anyway, this window was more interesting. |
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If I ever own my own home, especially if it's on a canal, I think I'll call it "Vettewinkel" just has that ring to it, doesn't it? |
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| Another nice neighborhood. |
Last day
If there was one picture I didn't take but should have, it would been the looks on our own faces when we realized we had missed our flight home. (Turns out when they say get there two hours early, they mean it). You might think we were just trying to squeeze in a few more kebobs ... and yes, you'd be right, tho' most of what was left of our extra day after we moped back to Amsterdam was spent looking for digs (found some nice ones, below). Luckily, standby got us the last two seats on the next day's flight.
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Our extra night was spent aboard the Kaptan Van Somethingorother (on the left), across the river from downtown Amsterdam. |
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