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. :-)