Amsterdam in rain (3)

After lunch, I went to the concierge and asked where I could see traditional Holland windmills. They told me I could attend some planned tours. That's very bad advice because all those tours start in the morning. And then they told, alternatively, I could take a bus and go to Zaanse Schans, where there are quite a few windmills.

So I walked to the Central Station, which is also the central station for buses, and jumped on #91. Here is the web-site of the bus company: http://www.connexxion.nl (in Dutch only, sorry). It's 2.5 euro dollars one way, if you don't have the strip ticket (strippen kaart).

Zaanse Schans is a small village about 13km north of Amsterdam. The bus trip takes about 30~40 minutes. It is built to commemorate the life of the 17th century. So it is concentrated with traditional windmills, craft shops, museums and, of course, tourists.

Though there are gates, there is no entrance fee. I was lucky that it wasn't too crowded when I went there because of the poor weather. But also because of the poor weather I wasn't able to shoot pretty pictures. :-(

A dashing cock.


Feeling very rural.


Windmills and a boat, and the poor weather :'(


I shot seven pictures adjacently and tried to adhere them...
(click on the pic and you can see the bigger one)


Almost every house is surrounded by ditches.


Flowers in front of a hand-made-watch museum.


Blossoming flowers.




"De Kwakels"


A cement giant in the parking lot. Don't know exactly what that means, though.


Zaanse Museum.


A corner of the museum.


Parking for 1st half hour is free; day rate € 6.50.


After wandering for about 90 minutes, I walked back toward the bus stop. Suddenly a couple of rabbits caught my eyes!


So cute!!


There was also a brown rabbit.




They are not very afraid of human. I shot this in about 5 meters.


Bus stop at Zaanse Schans.


Bus schedule. Roughly 20~30 minutes per run.


From inside the bus.


Rainy... :'(

Then I got back to the Central Station.


A pretty lovely road post.


The bus stop and "Schreierstoren" (meaning "Tower of tears").


The tower was part of the wall of the Amsterdam fortress in the middle age. Built in 1480, it is associated with a fairy that wives all cried ("schreien" in Dutch) when they saw their husbands asea here...

Then I basically wandered around until going into the restaurant for dinner.

Not much business at the coffee shop during the rainy day...


Though the street was quite busy.


Superman fixing bikes?!


Sex shop in the famous red-light area.


Street view.


Red hot.


A very lovely angel mark above someone's door.


A very rare 320si!! I like it very much~


Hardrock in Amsterdam, where I had steak and beer for dinner.


Then I proceeded to the concert hall (Het Concertgebouw) to listen to soprano Edita Gruberova. Picture quality deteriorated from now on because it was already pretty late (close to 9 pm) and dark.

Quiet canal; quiet boat. (on Singelgracht)


In Amsterdam, every building has its own charactor.


A "black coot." This is for Violette who likes this bird. :-)


The front view of the "National Museum" (Rijksmuseum).


"I AMsterdam" has become the city's logo.


Van Gogh Museum.


The big screen was promoting tonight's program (record video) with a bunch of people watching.


Het Concertgebouw, which was built in 1888 and claims to be "perfect in acoustics."


And that concluded my photo journey in Amsterdam. As for the concert, it was simply terrific! It began with the "William Tell" overture of Rossini. Excellent orchestral performance, especially the antiphonal between flute and clarinet, which was absolutely beautiful! Then came the powerful soprano. Very very impressive I have to reckon. She sang a lot of Italian works by Donizetti, Bellini, and Puccini.

To sum up, I'd like to thank Merrill for treating me nice and allowing me a full-day's rest in such a beautiful, cultural city. It's indeed a pity, though, that the weather was poor. I wish soon I have another chance to be there and shoot photos under clear skies. :-)

Amsterdam in rain (2)

Another view of the canal.


Then I decided to try to find Anne Franck's house, where Anne hided for two years and wrote her famous diary "Het Achterhuis" before being caught and killed in the concentration camp.

A restaurant.


This grocery store is probably asked too many times how to get to Anne's house, so they put a plate above the door to show the direction.


Then I found a long line trying to get into a small door.


I gave up. At least 100 people were lining up there. According to travel guide, half million visitors enter Anne's house each year. And because it's a very small house, they allow only a few people to go in at once.

It's a pity I couldn't go in. But I'd rather see more views of the city anyway (than spending much time on Jewish history).

Not far away is the West Church (Westerkerk), which has the highest tower (85M) in Amsterdam. It was built in 1622! And what interests me more is that Rembrandt was actually buried here (but nobody knows exactly where in the church?!).


A lovely boat house on the "Prince canal" (Prinsengracht).


Then I got a little tired and it's also near lunch time, so I started walking toward where I started--the Dam.

A decoration of the pier.


When I walked by the Dam for the second time of the day, it became very crowded with lots of tourists and street performers. There was also this cute buggy.


The hackman looks like a good friend with the horse...


A souvenir shop.


I didn't buy anything there, though I almost did buy the canned sunflower seeds and tulip bulbs that seem easy to cultivate. Just worried the Taiwanese customs wouldn't allow me to bring it home. Otherwise it seems like a good gift...

A florist.


Having no idea what to eat for lunch, I decided to go back to the hotel. Cafe Roux, the main restaurant in the hotel, surprisingly, doesn't supply lunch. So I ordered from room service menu. But before that, I was shocked that my camera was out of battery!! It is quite special battery (CR2) so I really worried maybe I couldn't even find it in this European city on Sunday. I rushed to the main shopping street and look for film processors. I found a coupe of them but none were open, deepening my concerns. I tried a few souvenir shops. They don't have this type of batteries, either, as I expected. I went to a store selling travel gears with little hope in mind. Indeed they don't sell this battery, but the boss advised maybe I could find it in the biggest camera shop in Amsterdam and showed me the way. So I finally got two CR2s for 17 Euro dollars. Very expensive. But better than none.

A test photo basically. On the main street (Damrak).


There are many such tiny alleys in the city.


Wooden pillar in the canal.


Little yellow Fiat.


Then I went back to the room and had a hamburger for lunch. But it wasn't very tasty. :-(


(To be continued)