Windmills...
Clogs...
Red light district, de Wallen...
Heineken...
And of course, DIAMONDS. (That is obviously glass.)
Didn't travel the whole country though, only went to Amsterdam. Which is more than enough I think. Too much to do in 1 day lar...
So, we started off with the highly recommended canal cruises, which took us through the old and new town's canals.
In the glassboat.
View of Amsterdam from the glassboat.
Intercontinental Amstel Hotel, the most expensive hotel in the whole of Amsterdam.
Houses leaning left and right. I was told that because houses in Amsterdam are mostly built on soft soil, they start to slant after some time if the foundation wasn't laid down well. So one house would start slanting and lean against the next one, and so on, and soon the whole block slants as well. So the government then put in pillings themselves, and charged the occupants for it. And that's how the tax based on the size of the door came about. So, people would normally have really small doors but very tall houses with large windows, and a moving beam at the top of the building (to move furniture and stuff in through the windows instead of the main door). Smart, eh?
After the canal cruises, we went visiting to a diamond factory! *eyes sparkle immediately*
This is a €2500+ real diamond. Cannot afford it, and would never dare to wear it even if I could. Who (meaning normal folks) is brave enough to strut around on the streets and parade around with a diamond at THAT size??!? Not me, definitely.
A comparison with my eye, the diamond is bigger than my iris.
After that, we went to the de Wallen, but couldn't take pictures (for obvious reasons). Besides window prostitution, there's like sex theatres & museums, peep shows as well as coffeeshops, which sells soft drugs legally. (They even have something like Cannabis cookie...-_-") And very often, you smell people smoking them openly on the streets too.
Oude Kerk, Amsterdam's oldest parish church, standing in the main red light district.
War memorial opposite Dam Square, and de Wallen (red light district) is just right behind it.
Dam Square, with Royal Palace (former City Hall) and Nieuwe Kerk in the background.
Madame Tussauds Amsterdam.
Quite a unique city as compared to the other European cities I've been to. Definitely lives up to its name, Amsterdam! (I'm starting to sound like a travel brochure now.)
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