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Amsterdam, Netherlands

9 July 2007 17 Comments

As the title says, this post is about Amsterdam. Had been to Amsterdam twice. Both times it was a short trip, time stolen from my busy schedule. First time I went there from Brussels on my way back during gloomy winter days. It was a Sunday. Took an early train to Amsterdam from where I had to take my flight for Mumbai. It is just an hour’s train journey. Sometimes (well.. all the time) I feel it is easier to go from one country to another in Europe than to travel from one city to another back home.

First see below the two photos of the same place, Amsterdam Central Station, one during winter & the other one taken recently in summer. How gloomy it looks in winters.

Name:- The name Amsterdam literally means Amstel dam. The meaning of Amestelledamme is dam on the river Amstel, where Amstel can be further dissected into ‘ame’ meaning water and ‘stelle’ meaning dry ground. The damming of the river Amstel gave it its name. In Dutch, their native language, Amstelredam means “Dam in the Amstel” turned into Amsterdam in the course of time.

According to legend, Amsterdam was found by two fishermen, who landed on the shores of the Amstel in a small boat with their dog. So, Amsterdam began as a fishing village. And yes, like Venice it is a city of canals. And that was my foremost reason to visit this amazing city.

The life of Amsterdam has been its aquatic locale, close as it is to the North Sea and built on myriad canals, which neatly divide the city into easily navigable districts and imbue it with a small town ambiance. It looked like there was a canal around every corner in Amsterdam – not too surprising, considering that the city is home to more canals than Venice.
Almost half of Amsterdam is below sea level so the occasional Western storm brings a lot of water at once, and all of it has to be pumped out to higher ground and to the seas around the city. These bodies of water make winter days very cloudy and damp.

Public transport in Amsterdam mainly consists of bus, trams and ferries. The above picture is of an old tram. I heard that ferries operate free of charge for pedestrians and cyclists across the IJ lake just to encourage the environment friendly modes of transport. Most main streets have bike paths. In the city centre, driving a car is discouraged. Parking fees are steep and a great number of streets are closed to cars or are one-way.

Can you see the innumerable windmills ? They are typical of Netherlands. One more thing that amazed me was triangular shaped houses in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is also famous for its red-light area. Window prostitution is legal in the Netherlands at specific places. The red-light district is located in the centre of the city along with major canals and is clearly marked on maps.

I didn’t have time to explore much, just clicked some photos before heading to the airport. Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is less than 20 minutes by train from Amsterdam Central Station. It is the biggest airport in the Netherlands, the fourth largest in Europe.

Note:- All pictures are taken from still camera. As always, for more pictures on Amsterdam visit here.

My next post is going to be on the famous garden of tulips.. Keukenhof Garden.

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17 Comments »

  • maverick said:

    vowwwww i’ve been dreaming of amsterdam for a long time now. so kool tht u’d been there.

    so did u’ve hash browns ;) ?

    # 9 July 2007 at 6:50 AM
  • Mridula said:

    I had very similar kind of time in Amsterdam, roam around a bit and then head to the airport to take the plane back!

    # 9 July 2007 at 9:41 AM
  • Pijush said:

    Lovely post, good information, it remembered my visit to Amsterdam (most of the info from wikipedia) but pics are mine from normal digital camera (original shots).

    # 9 July 2007 at 1:11 PM
  • Pijush said:

    Please nominate some Indian treasures for
    new seven natural wonders . My nominations are Sundarbans and Himalayas.

    # 9 July 2007 at 2:14 PM
  • Fleiger said:

    Is it just me or the Central Station looks too much similar to CST?

    # 9 July 2007 at 3:06 PM
  • Priyank said:

    wow nice pictures:) Amsterdam looks like a crowded place!

    # 10 July 2007 at 12:28 AM
  • Iceman said:

    Yeah… Amsterdam! But… where r the bicycles? I can’t see any…
    Rotterdam is also an absolutely astounding place! Brussels is a fantastic place!

    May be next time try visiting Austria, Vienna. You’ll love it, some time in summer!!! Trust me! And put on those ski-boots.

    # 10 July 2007 at 12:20 PM
  • Cuckoo said:

    Maverick,
    I have been to many places, not able to record here.

    Oh Hash browns ? What do you think ? ;)

    Mridula,
    Yeah, I remember your post very well.

    # 11 July 2007 at 1:12 PM
  • Cuckoo said:

    Pijush,
    Thank you. Checked your post also.

    Fleiger,
    Is it just me or the Central Station looks too much similar to CST?.. Eh no ! It is just you. I’ll post a picture of CST for you.

    # 11 July 2007 at 1:13 PM
  • Cuckoo said:

    Priyank,
    Thank you. Yeah, sometimes it gets crowded. :)

    Iceman,
    Thank you. Yes, all those places are awesome.

    Stopped over in Vienna once but I don’t have many pictures. :(

    # 11 July 2007 at 1:16 PM
  • Martin Stickland said:

    I went on a stag weekend in Amsterdam with 18 mates and had to share a double bed with my friends younger brother due to a mix up over room bookings. After a drunken night out I woke up in bed next to this man and thought to myself “Oh no, what have I done?” before I rembered where I was. My wife laughed about it luckily!

    # 11 July 2007 at 10:08 PM
  • GMG said:

    Sorry Cuckoo, I took another weekend on the beach in Algarve and was too lazy to carry a laptop. Further I’ve been too busy… Anyhow, I’m so happy to be back and find these great pictures of Amsterdam, a beautiful and very «photogenic» city! Look forward to seeing Keukenhof; never managed to get there in May…

    # 11 July 2007 at 11:37 PM
  • Cuckoo said:

    Martin,
    Welcome aboard !!
    Ha Ha.. that was an interesting account. Are you sure you didn’t do anything ? ;)

    Thanks for dropping by. Keep coming.

    Gil,
    Oh Gil, no need to be sorry. We all do that.. being away from our blogs.

    Hmm .. looking forward to the pictures of Algrave then. Yeah sure. Will show you right here.

    # 12 July 2007 at 11:32 AM
  • bendtherulz said:

    I agree with you summer time pics are so much more clear and crisp….! Oh and loved your floral pics…all from still….!

    # 12 July 2007 at 4:17 PM
  • Edmund Lee said:

    WOW! Impressive site you have here!
    And very thorough and detailed descriptions of the places!

    It’s going to take me some time to go through all your travel adventures :)

    # 14 July 2007 at 4:27 AM
  • Sigma said:

    Lovely pictures! And I agree that it looks rather gloomy in winters! Do you have pictures of triangular houses that you mention? I have for sure not seen one :-)

    # 14 July 2007 at 9:44 AM
  • Cuckoo said:

    BTR,
    :) Thank you.

    Come again to see & know about it.

    Edmund,
    Welcome aboard ! Thank you for the appreciation but the true appreciation would be if you regularly visit this site. ;)

    Please take your own time but do visit it. Thanks for dropping by.

    Sigma,
    Yeah, the winters are very gloomy over there.

    Oh, I’ll have to dig out my album of all of more than 250 photos on Amsterdam and all still pictures ! Will do it sometime.

    # 16 July 2007 at 6:54 AM

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