Crooked in Amsterdam

We managed to sleep pretty well on the airbed our hosts set up. Almost slept the clock around.

After breakfast we headed into Amsterdam for a relatively unplanned day. We kind of left it to Linda and Guus to suggest stuff to do. So we drove to the end of  metro line and took the metro into Central Station....fairly uneventful ride. We had a coffee......and a cake......... in the central plaza whilst we oriented ourselves and discussed where to first. It was coolish but the day was looking to break into sun.....

So over the main canal and into Old Amsterdam......

with bikes everywhere

...and of course coffee places and canals........

I tried taking a couple of photos (unsuccessful as you are not seeing them) of the crooked houses.. Many houses seemed to lean, we believe that partially this is intentional and meant to get a little more room. Build on your land but lean into the street for bigger rooms in upper floors......very Dutch....

Our first official stop was at Our Lord in the Attic (MUSEUM ONS' LIEVE HEER OP SOLDER) a weird little Catholic Church that had been built inside other houses to allow Catholics to continue to pursue their particular religious pursuits during the time of William of Orange. The church was literally cut out of another building, with other activities happening in rooms around the church hollow. Very weird little find.

Right next door was one of Amsterdam's famous 'Coffee' houses........and whilst I did not get the camera set up in time one of the boats in the canals was also a 'smoking' boat.

Somehow we ended up in a less than reputable quarter. Whilst the heading here is cute and the customers enjoying a coffee and sunshine, the rest of the area is a little sad, and the window displays made me feel extremely uncomfortable. The embarrassment was less personal and more a sort of species embarrassment....still there IS Trump.

We got tired of walking and watching others eat, so we had some lunch in a lovely little angled courtyard. And then back to..........more effing canals.........

Linda and Marjan decided to go on strike.,.......

So we found something they could enjoy.....

This bar is actually in one of the oldest houses in Amsterdam, one of two remaining wooden house. The bar is called In Apjen.....and is themed around monkeys. The story is that sailors who could not pay would leave their monkeys behind as collateral till next time. Eventually there were so many monkeys and fleas that the monkeys were taken to start the Amsterdam zoo. Rene the barman said the story was as good as any of the many he had heard. He had a sign behind the bar that said It is I Rene........a reference to the old TV show.....'Allo 'Allo. Apparently it is hardly ever off Dutch TV.

We walked and walked everywhere.....into churches......

...along a crooked mile.......you could see how crooked the building were by the way the curtains hung.......

........along cyclist infested streets...........we almost got wiped several time....

into art deco cinemas.........Tuschinski's, the oldest cinema in Amsterdam and still functioning..........

 .......flower shops..........with very few fresh flowers......no point said the man....tourists only photograph them.........

.....so I did.......

and into coffee shops as opposed to 'coffee' shops

finally our stamina ran out. Amsterdam was nice, though crowded. It's architects though know nothing about euclidean geometry and straight lines.

Tomorrow Bruges.......