Back to Homepage Back to Travel Photos	Amsterdam, the Netherlands -- June 2006
Amsterdam is a city situated on a series of canals. The people get around by walking, driving, bicycling and boating.
At one time the houses were taxed by their width, so the houses tend to be very narrow and long. The staircases inside them are narrow and very steep. Bicycles parked all over the place is a very common sight.
More interestingly narrow houses on an Amsterdam canal.
Many associate wooden shoes and tulips with The Netherlands (sometimes also called Holland but this is misguided, since the provinces of North and South Holland in the western Netherlands are only two of the country's twelve provinces.).
A view up the street that ends at the main train and bus station for the city, Amsterdam Centraal.
The Central Station for Amsterdam, which funnels all the trains and buses going in and around the city. Part of it was in the process of getting renovated.
Next to the Central Station, there is a massive parking structure for bicycles. There were thousands of bicycles parked here.
In the center of Rembrandt Square there is a statue built in tribute to the Dutch painter.
An outdoor café on Rembrandt Square. People sitting out and enjoying a meal or just a drink at outdoor cafes is a very common site throughout Europe.
A shopping street off Rembrandt Square leading to the clock tower in the center of the city.
Dam square in Amsterdam. The Koninklijk Palace in on the left and the Nieuwe Kerk is on the right which is a religious edifice, historical monument and an art museum.
Just in the middle of Dam Square is the Nationaal Monument - a huge obelisk built in 1956. Architect J. J .P. Oud and sculptor John Raedecker designed this 22-meter high obelisk, as an homage to the victims of WWII.
The U.S. could learn a thing or two about fuel-efficient cars from the Europeans!
Bikes, boats and canals. There are lots of all three in Amsterdam.
The house where Anne Frank (at age 13), her family, and friends of her family hid in the attic from Nazi soldiers for 2 years until they were discovered and taken to a Nazi concentration camp. Anne Frank wrote down her experiences at this time in many notebooks which were later published as The Diary of Anne Frank, one of the most widely read works of non-fiction.
This is the bookcase that hid the entrance to the rooms where Anne and the others hid for 2 years.
These giant letters sit in the Museumplein park behind the Rijks Museum (in the background) and near the Van Gogh Museum.