AMSTERDAM

It's Thanksgiving Week here in the US and we have so much to be thankful for  — we had so many good days here in Oregon this summer and fall — and took lots of pictures.  But our trip to Europe  has consumed almost every one of our blog posts lately.  When we got "re-Oregonized" back in July, I thought it was a joke  when I said I'd probably be blogging about our 'grand tour' until it was time for us to go back to our Florida winter home.  But here we are in real life getting close to that departure  and yet  in blog-land we're still on our early-summer European trip.    (And I'll definitely still be blogging about Oregon after we get back to Florida!)

 

Amsterdam has over 1200 bridges and 165 canals.  

But the end is in sight.    This post is about Amsterdam — and Amsterdam was the last stop on our European tour. 

The City started around a dam in the Amstel River — all of the land around the river was originally marshy, but it was made liveable by draining the swamp and building the canal system.

 

 

 

We saw this banner or sign everywhere in ordinary shops and stores — at first, we thought  Amsterdam was capitalizing on its reputation as somewhat of an  "adult" (X-rated)  city*.   (A little frighteningly for us at the time,  the banner even hung on the window of our hotel.)   

But fortunately, we learned  that this banner is actually Amsterdam's historic coat of arms — the white crosses on the black background represent St. Andrew's Cross (because he was a fisherman and in the 1500s, Amsterdam was a fishing village).  Or, in another version, the crosses stood for  the three perils that the City once faced — flood, fire, and plague.   I  like either of those versions better than what we first thought.      

*And yes, we did walk through that part of town and no I did not take any pictures.  And now we can say we've been there.    (We actually felt completely safe everywhere in the City.)

 

 

Everyone knows that we are drawn to water and boats and so of course Amsterdam was right up our alley canal.  We saw all kinds of  tour boats (we took one) and many personal pleasure boats, but the most fascinating to us was the many many live-aboard houseboats docked right along busy downtown streets .   Some were beautifully kept, some nearly derelict.   These boats are not cheap lodging.  The  sign in the window of the center boat  says "For Sale by Sotheby's."   That firm does not deal in low-rent housing!    Our canal boat tour guide somewhat satisfied our curiosity about how space rental and maintenance concerns were handled.    I think we may have been the first people who asked that kind of question.  

 

Dutch architecture.   

 The tall narrow houses were built because they used to be taxed by width.   Some homes along the River were built on stilts because of the sandy soil.  They've settled over the years and now appear to be leaning forward.  

Koninkluk Paleis  (The Royal Palace)

 

 

Views of Zuiderkerk (South Church) from the Staalstraat Bridge

Part of the reason I blog is to clarify the memories.     I used to imagine  (when I started blogging)  that someday, when we got too old to travel and explore, we could sit in our rocking chairs and read about what "adventures" we'd had.    I'm grateful that  (as of today anyway)  neither of us has yet reached that point.    Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

  

LINKING this week to the following, with thanks to the hosts: 

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;   ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; TUESDAY TREASURES;  SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  SIGNS SIGNS;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and  FRIDAY  BLISS; and WANDERING CAMERA