Ok, so Chad and Nate, fellow IMLPs current on rotation in Paris came up to Amsterdam for a visit. Here's a photo
from our four-hour bike tour with Mike's Bike Tours. It was a very good tour and worth the price, although it did rain
much of the tour (of course it was sunny most of the rest of the day!). This windmill is about a half hour walking south down the road
from where I work.
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We went to a REAL Dutch dairy/wooden shoe factory place! Ok, so it was very touristy, but what's not these days? Here's a
new baby calf.
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Here's the machine that carves the wooden shoes from a template shoe.
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Oooooh, do you covet wooden shoes?
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Pretty windmill designs for tourists
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Not many other photos on the tour, we WERE on bicycle most of the time and it was raining, so it wasn't the best situation for
photos. This was taken shortly after the tour near the Rijksmuseum.
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Same location as above
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SPQA - just like SPQR but for Amsterdam instead of Rome! This is on top of the De La Mar Theatre (at least I think so) on
the Leidseplein (just down the street from where I live).
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Here's a street entertainer, he did drop those though and didn't have too good of a take from the crowd after...too bad
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The American Hotel near Leidseplein
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This is the Homomonument along Raadhuisstraat near Westerkerk (the thing that looks like a pier with steps leading down). It is a
monument to homosexuals killed in World War II concentration camps as they were also singled out with Jews and other "defective"
groups by the Nazis.
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A large tourist boat passes near the Anne Frank House just up from Westerkerk along Prinsengracht.
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Talk about airing your dirty laundry...
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The line for the Anne Frank House across the canal - the house is actually the one on the FAR left of this photo
with the ground floor painted black. You enter into a museum type area and progress through the house and watch video clips
etc and in the end you get to see the actual diary etc.
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Westerkerk, the oldest Protestant church in Holland and where the Queen was married.
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Notice the usual symbol of Amsterdam with the three X's or St. Andrew's crosses to protect against fire, flood, and
famine - three things that have plagued Amsterdam over the centuries.
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This is from when Fong came to visit Amsterdam for two weeks, one say we decided to
go sightseeing. This is decorative stonework at Centraal Station.
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At first I thought this was some wacky clock that turned at random, but with time I figured out that it is actually
a wind vane showing the direction of the wind, this being a city with such a rich heritage as a port and all. The directions
are the same as you'd expect on a map etc, but with the Dutch abbreviations. Zuid being south etc.
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So, Fong and I boarded a tourist canal boat and got ready to take in Amsterdam the way God intended, by water!
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Here's Centraal Station in the background with many trains underneath the protective dome I'm sure.
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A window with bright red shutters along the tour
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This is the type of view you can only get from the water
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Well, and this one too...
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Houses along the canal, how nice
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Here's an oramented bridge
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The most famous bridge in Amsterdam, the "skinny" bridge
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I think this is my favorite photo of Amsterdam so far, captures the whole triumph of humankind over the water aspect of the city
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And again, the symbol of Amsterdam
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