Indeed, my first realization was that they talk a language that I am not familiar with!
Here are pictures I took to illustrate my journey, starting with Rotterdam:
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| Erasmus Bridge (a suspension bridge with a single pillar) features a landmark in the city |
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Buildings have a design that makes an impression
Overall a city where (modern) architecture is honored |
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| The Cube Houses |
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| The Pencil Tower |
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Churches that are not so attended for religion purposes anymore
are re-purposed - this one for clubbing at night (see rails of spots) |
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| Bikes are everywhere, as pedestrian you have to be on your guards! |
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| Lots of canals and bridges |
Then lots of windmills (you can directly skip to Amsterdam)
We went to Kinderdijk which hosts 19 windmills built around 1741 to keep the polder dry (allowing farming and housing development in the area).
Then, Amsterdam!
Big change in atmosphere: that is a warm (not speaking about the weather) and friendly city (not referring to the women in the shops), with some sort of soul (I mean alive, with people).
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Tall & skinny houses with larges windows - a representative sample of the canal houses
(prices were only based on width) |
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Cyclists do not wear helmets and this kind of bike is famous
("Dutch Granny Bike") |
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| I love these houses with huge windows |
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| Gables with hooks (explanation below) |
Hooks are there to enable residents to pull large, bulky objects up and into a window at the proper floor. Most homes in Amsterdam have narrow, steep, often winding staircases that make it difficult to bring large, bulky objects upstairs. Many windows can be taken out of the wall completely for the same reason. For the same reason, lots of old canal houses are leaning forwards. They were mainly built like that so that the gable was further out into the street to make it easier to haul everything in via the hook and window.
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| A significant number of canal houses are cockeyed / crooked as they are built on soft ground |
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| The famous flower market |
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| And to finish, orange tulips! |
