Channels forum

Anyway a walk in a different direction today resulted in finding an area I had never explored before (in about 50 visits) and the discovery of a quiet corner of fabulous houses in the Oud Zuid between Vondelpark and Lairessestraat the the architecture of some of which was if anything more amazing t...

Filing todays report a little early (10 pm) before going back out to the Gollem for the rest of the evening. Great day today just wandering around my favourite streets. First stop was the stamp market and as I left the hotel and started down Runstraat I saw two guys actually preparing to use one of...

That's no goose, it's a young swan! Probably born earlier this spring and has not yet turned white. I'm an old country boy, this was a large goose. Standing up his head was above my waist, and he knew his way around as far as begging food much more than a yearling swan. I'm sure he is a permanent r...

Sadly I didn't make the pre-breakfast Jordaan walk yesterday (Thursday) - felt too hung over so I didn't venture forth till about 9 wandering down Leidsegracht (a very beautiful and underrated canal in my opinion) via the flower market (Mrs Swin wants giant amaryllis bulbs - however you spell it!) ...

That's no goose, it's a young swan! Probably born earlier this spring and has not yet turned white.

We then strolled to the Grote square and sat and nursed beers at an outdoor cafe. This was my favorite thing to do throughout the trip. People watching at its finest. We went into the church there and were lucky enough to have the famous pipe organ,the largest in Europe, being played while we strol...

Outside the feeble sunlight illuminates the passing crowd; there are Dutch women shopping, walking past Zuider Kerk with their shoulders bundled tight and their shopping bags clasped in gloved hands. An eclectic mix of Dutch, Moroccan, Jewish and the occasional two or three tourists. I drink the ko...

i found with interest, some building in Ams. seemed to be identified by "plaques/tablets" over there doors, originally i understand the "tablets" they were a means of locating a person, here's one with a "iron plaque", this building corner of Brouwersgracht and Prinsen...

He's right about the Jordaan. My Mum grew up there, on the Bloemgracht, and it used to be a real "people's neighbourhood", like where normal, middleclass, working people live. Then in the 50s the city government wanted to trash the Jordaan, so a lot of people from there moved to Almere an...

"At the appropriate time we headed back over to Boom Chicago to pick up R&S. Unfortunately, they felt the show just wasnt that good (they even claimed that theyve seen better live comedy back home and home is in the sticks!)." Understandable to me. Altho it was quite a while ago the wh...

Sorry if I couldn't make my point very well in English. Look at it this way. The street is called Vissersstraat. Since the street is divided you could say by the Harlemmerstraat/dijk, the part of the street that is closest to the waterfront is called Buiten or Outside. The continuation of the street...

"I was on a side street off of Haarlemmerstraat named Buiten Visserstraat which means \0Street of the Foreign Fishermen\0 in Dutch." Koopa, the name of the side street doesn't mean the Street of Foreign Fishermen. If you look at an Amsterdam street map you'll see that the small streets cro...

May I just add that the suggestion to "throw a few Euro" at aggressive people is not only bad advice but certainly NOT what locals do. You are right to be very cautious though. You should be wearing a money-belt or something like that under your clothes. You could carry a cheap fake wallet...

Chiron, I saw that you had made a photo of one of the many Ladybugs in the sidewalks here and were wondering what that means: The last years in the Netherlands, there have been many shocking attacks carried out against ordinary people who have for example been reacting to a thug throwing bikes into ...

That wall forms the present entrance leading to the Amsterdam Historical Museum. The buildings were once the city orphanage. Click on English and you'll see:

http://www.ahm.nl/weeshuis.php

BTW, the so called bloemenmarket is one of the worst places to buy bulbs. There have been frequent "raids" on the bulbs being sold there to often unsuspecting tourists. That market has a few legitimate sellers left but its now mostly tourist shlock. Because the market has become more of a tourist tr...