Amsterdam or watch out for the bikes.

A weekend trip in Amsterdam, or watch out for the bikes.

 40% of the population use bikes for transportation, and if your not careful you will get run over by one. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam

Our first day there Leanne took this picture of the Westerkerk (Western Church) the church is next to the Ann Frank Museum. Ann Frank would listen to the churches carillon bells playing Mozart and Bach while her family was in hiding. It would be her only reminder of the outside world.  

The next day we would be going on two different tours, but first it was time for breakfast.
 Another view of the church from father down one of the many canals in the city.

Breakfast at last, we went for the traditional dutch pancakes. They look like crepes but are supposed to be a little thicker.  Leanne's was lemon while mine was ham and cheese---she had the better pick.

And if you like cheese this is the place to be, small shops seem to be on every street.

Not the greatest of days for a tour, raining and cold. We would be riding a bus so it would not be all bad. This is near the train station down town.

The first tour took us out into the country side, first stop was the windmills. These are all working wind mills and we were in a nice spot to take pictures.

Unless someone jumps in front of you while your taking them. Then you get a nice shot of someones hands. I just say "thanks i got a great picture of your hands"

This one is a sawmill, all the wood i cut by the wind.

The walls of this one were covered in thatch. We were told that the covering could last up to 30 years.

This grinding wheel is from another windmill that was built in 1672, it was an oil mill. The stone wheel was installed in the 1820's from the constant use it is half the size it was when it was installed.

This windmill ground spices. The one in the foreground was grinding cinnamon, the back one did cloves. Yes it smelled great in there.

and this small one just pumped water. There were some this size and smaller out in the farm fields.

Next stop was to see a wooden shoe maker. Most are tourist souvenirs but people actually wear them for everyday use

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klomp

 Wooden shoes are made by machines now using wet wood. After the shoe is cut on the machine it is hung to dry. As you can see by the picture.

 They were more comfortable than i thought they would be. Leanne did not care for them at all. 

And if you have extra time you just cover a tree with shoes.

For out second tour would take us to the Keukenhof park for the flowers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keukenhof

This is just a portion of the pictures we took there, they seem to go on forever.

All morning long it rained but as luck would have it the sun came out when we got there. 

We had three and a half hours to spend at the park

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There are over seven million flower bulbs planted for this event.

And there is an occupational sculpture on the grounds.  

Leanne saw these women and asked if they wanted her to take a picture of them. When they said they didn't have a camera, she took one anyway. 

The park is 79 acres and is one of the biggest flower shows in the world.

We bump our phones and take a lot of accidental pictures, this is one of the better ones

They had a building that was full of orchids 

Leanne doing some close up shots, we may frame this one. 

For the ride home we went by farms that grow flower bulbs.

When we got back to town we went to the Ann Frank house. Hoping the rain (that had started again) would dissude people from coming.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank_House

The line was short and we only had to wait 35 minutes to get in. A must place to go when you go to Amsterdam.

Next day was a museum day. Did i mention about all the bikes? This was a small bike parking lot.

The first museum was the Rijksmuseum. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rijksmuseum

We would spend about two hours here, using an audio guide to help us along. It was very crowded with people walking in front of you as you were looking at a painting. At one point i watched a man knocked Leanne to the side so he could get a closer look. I mean really push her side way. No apology, just get out of my way.

  It looked more like a hockey move and she was checked. I was standing a ways behind her when all this happen. She had her hand up at the guy as if to say "What the Heck"----so i walked up behind her and did the same thing. Once she saw it was me she laughed---but for a brief second, i thought she was going to take me out.

I had thought we would be using the trams, but it was just as quick to walk everywhere.  This was near the Van Gogh that we went to next. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Gogh_Museum

Of the two museums we like the Van Gogh better.

When was the last time you saw a violin store.

Besides the bikes there are a lot of charging stations for electric cars. This lot had hook ups for about 12 cars. 

Our last morning in Amsterdam, it was a little chilly.

There is a car lane, bike lane and a pedestrian lane. The safest place to be would be the car or pedestrian lane. 

Another beautiful canal.

And another great breakfast, Mine was a dutch pancake with salmon, creme fraiche and chives

Leanne's was ham, bananas and hot peppers

After breakfast we did a city walk, its hard to walk anywhere with out seeing another canal, 

You do notice that some of the building have a lean to them. This is because they are built on pilings and have settled.

Almost all the buildings have these hooks on the front of them. This is for moving  furniture to the upper floors.

A statue of Ann Frank near her house. The line to get in her house was three times longer than it was for us, when we went.

One of the many boat cruise's that were available. 

Another Cheese shop, just looking in made me hungry.

This is a public urinal, my guess is the city got tired of men relieving themselves in the canals. 

Another boat tour coming thru.

Last view and then its time to go home.