Netherlands - Amsterdam

So big cities are not our thing but when in Netherlands you have to do Amsterdam.

St Nicolai Cathedral

Amsterdam Cold & Wet

It is very expensive to take your car into Amsterdam and park (25 Euro-R325) so we took the train from Weesp to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam was wet and windy and we thought there would be way more people in the city.

Everything is fairly easy to find and from the station everything is in walking distance.

Red Light District

Royal Palace

The Cathedral of St Nicolai is the first you see - St Nicolai is the patron saint of seamen and prostitutes. The Red Light District is just behind the church with all the ladies showing their wares. I think they Need St Nicolai.

The Royal Palace and the Nuwe Kerk was our next stop.

Our Canal Boat trip took us on a round about tour circling the city. So much to see from

Blue Bridge

Outside Van Gogh Cafe

famous sites such as Anne Frank's Home, the van Gogh Cafe, Seven Tunnel Intersection,
Magere Brug (the Blue Bridge - a small version of the one in Paris), the Naval Museum, Palace of Justice, Sea Palace Restaurant - seats 700 guests and is a small version of the one in Hong Kong which seats 5,000 guests and loads more. Then all the house boats and the different

House Boats on Prinsengracht

types of architecture and history of the city was fascinating.

*The station has parking for 2500 bicycles.

Sea Palace Restaurant

*More than 15,000 bicycles are lost in the canals each year.
*800,000 people live in Amsterdam city.
*90,00 people stay in North Amsterdam the rest in South Amsterdam.
*At least once a week they have to fish a car out of the canals.
*Most of the buildings date back to 17th
century.
* The Canals are 3 meters deep - 1 meter mud, 1 meter bicycles, 1 meter water.
*No houses had numbers until Napoleon's brother came to Amsterdam in the 17th century and started numbering them.