Amsterdam - Land of Canals

Amsterdam is absolutely amazing! The network of canals completely boggles your mind...and makes it quite easy to get lost because, just like all cream colored houses, all canals look the same (or pretty darn close). Fortunately, they do have road signs to help.
We stayed in a very small apartment, in the heart of old Amsterdam; a great jumping off point for exploring the old town area. The intricate network of canals weave you through various shopping and eating areas - everything was outside during the wonderful, warm weather. We took a great boat trip through the canals, weaving past old homes and businesses, Anne Frank's home, old churches, and numerous other sites.

They had some interesting old bridges - balanced with different weights to allow ease of opening them. They used it for both foot bridges as well as roads for cars - a very interesting design.

The reflections on the water were gorgeous - far better than our pictures show. We dined on the canal, watching the various boats cruising up and down the very busy waterways. The most amazing one was this guy with his boat. Most of the turns were 3 point turns where the drivers had to jockey the boat back and forth to make it. Not this guy - he had just the right pivot point to make it around - phenomenal watching him...and he knew it too! Click on the picture below to see his amazing turn.