Amsterdam

They built a dam on the Amstel river: Amsterdam.

Today a canal tour by boat. There are 2500 stationary houseboats in Amsterdam (called floating houses; no engines) on 65 miles of canals.

The water is managed and the canals do not flood. In the 17th century 80% of the world’s trade went through Amsterdam.

All of the floating houses are occupied. They cost upwards of 800,000€ if one were to become available. Electricity and plumbing all from below.

Houses are taxed by number of windows so a house 2-3 windows wide runs 5 million € +. See the hook at the top of the building (bottom left) for getting the furniture inside (IKEA is a good plan?).

Many of the old mansions have been combined to form hotels. Here is the Waldorf Astoria, 5 houses wide.

Amsterdam is home to both the East and West Indian Trading Companies. East: spices, guns and ammunition. West: transporting slaves. All the guides have mentioned that The Netherlands accepts their past, acknowledges mistakes and have paid reparations. This house shows original statues of slaves and was the home of one of the West Indies traders.

The large white building was the re-built offices of the East Indian Trading Co (the first one blew up because…ammunition!)

The gray shutter building was the offices of the West Indies Trading Co.

This is the spot of a famous Monet painting, Southern Church in Amsterdam 1874. Left is the Monet, right is the actual spot.

Also pretty famous Skinny Bridge.

The oldest ship in Amsterdam: the Amsterdam!

These posts are all over Amsterdam to delineate between sidewalks and bike paths. We also see the 3 x’s that signify the 3 no-no’s: Fire, Flood and Plague! (Just a little phallic. It IS Amsterdam….)

And there are these:

Bikes are the biggest means of transportation here. You see bike parks like this all over. Under the train station there is a park that accommodates 10,000 bikes. You better remember exactly where you parked!

The very famous Anne Frank house is in Amsterdam of course. It was her father Otto’s office and the family and friends (8 people total) were hidden upstairs by Otto’s employees. In her diary she talks about hearing the church bells a few doors away. We saw this on the canal cruise and later we walked all over Amsterdam to see it again to get a photo of the Tripping Stone—and there wasn’t one!! (Sorry, guys….)