Sunday, May 09, 2004

amsterdam

6. may - 9. may 
 
(click reload till all the pictures appear) 
 
it was 50º, raining and half a dozen things i wanted to see were closed including the MOMA, but what follows are some of the things i did see.  amsterdam is dominated by a 400 year tradition of banking, shipping and diamonds. they use their churches as exhibition halls, and vices that any other city outlaws, are regulated to profit. the redlight district is smack in the middle of the oldtown and the city is the gay capital of europe.
 


the canals are supposed to be 3m deep.
they joke here that they are 1m mud, 1m bicycles, and 1m water

 



near the university of amsterdam
 




even more van gogh's than at d'Orsay
 




narrow alley off Damrak Str.
 




the lights really are red
 




in the Hash Museum
 




Begijnhof, community of spinnsters as old as the city
 




in the tower of Westerkerk
 




Anne Frank Huis
the line is always this long and there is no coat check.
you cannot enter with a bag or coat.
one is informed of this at the front of the line.
 




Prinsengracht from the tower of the Westerkerk
 




 

 











chess game
 




the city is built on silt and taxes were one once proportial to width of the house
 




protestant stained glass window
 




Prinsengracht, on the way to drop of my backpack at the trainstation
in order to visit the Anne Frank house
 
 



quick trip home on the german ICE
600km in 5hrs