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Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
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Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (IATA: AMS, ICAO: EHAM) is the Netherlands' main international airport, located 20 minutes (4.9 NM (9.1 km; 5.6 mi) southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer. The airport's official English name, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, places the words in the Dutch order (Luchthaven Schiphol) instead of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (or Schiphol Airport Amsterdam). The airport used to have the IATA code of SPL, which has fallen into disuse and has been replaced by AMS. (Referred to the site of "Wikipedia") |
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ams2010-001
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(Thursday 24 June) Amsterdam Airport Schiphol |
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ams2010-002
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(Thursday 24 June) Amsterdam Airport Schiphol |
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| Freeland Hotel |
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Freeland Hotel is located at Marnixstraat 386, 1017 PL Amsterdam, Nederland 020 6227511. I stayed at this comfortable and convenient 2-star hotel between 24 - 26 June, 2010. |
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ams2010-006
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(Thursday 24 June) Freeland Hotel, Marnixstraat 386, 1017 PL Amsterdam, Nederland 020 6227511 |
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| Singelgracht |
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The seventeenth-century canal ring area inside the Singelgracht is put on the UNESCO World Heritage List. |
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ams2010-011
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(Thursday 24 June) Singelgracht, Amsterdam |
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ams2010-028
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(Thursday 24 June) Singelgracht, Amsterdam |
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| Rijksmuseum Amsterdam |
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The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam or Rijksmuseum (English: State Museum) located at Museumplein
Amsterdam, is a Dutch national museum in Amsterdam, located on the Museumplein. The museum is dedicated to arts, crafts, and history. It has a large collection of paintings from the Dutch Golden Age and a substantial collection of Asian art. It also displays the stern of the HMS Royal Charles which was captured in the Raid on the Medway. The museum was founded in 1800 in The Hague to exhibit the collections of the Dutch stadtholders. It was inspired by French example. By then it was known as the National Art Gallery (Dutch: Nationale Kunst-Gallerij). In 1808 the museum moved to Amsterdam on the orders of king Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. The paintings owned by that city, such as The Night Watch by Rembrandt, became part of the collection. (Referred to the site of "Wikipedia") |
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ams2010-016
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(Thursday 24 June) The front gate of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam |
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ams2010-108
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(Saturday 26 June) The front gate of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam |
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ams2010-017
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(Thursday 24 June) The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam displaying a hanging poster of Johannes Vermeer's "De Melkmeid" (or "Het Melkmeisj": "The Milkmaid") |
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| Van Gogh Museum |
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The Van Gogh Museum is a museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, featuring the works of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries. It has the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world since its foundation in 1973. It is located at Museumplein, Amsterdam (behind The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam). |
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ams2010-018
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(Thursday 24 June) The Van Gogh Museum, Museumplein, Amsterdam |
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ams2010-019
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(Thursday 24 June) The Van Gogh Museum, Museumplein, Amsterdam |
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ams2010-021
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(Thursday 24 June) Some panels of the Van Gogh Museum |
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ams2010-022
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(Thursday 24 June) Some panels of the Van Gogh Museum |
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ams2010-023
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(Thursday 24 June) Some panels of the Van Gogh Museum |
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| Cafe de Koe |
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Cafe de Koe is located at Marnixstraat 381, 1016 XR Amsterdam, Nederland 020 6254482; the opposite side of Hotel Freeland across Marnixstraat. |
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ams2010-029
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(Thursday 24 June) Cafe de Koe, Marnixstraat 381, 1016 XR Amsterdam, Nederland 020 6254482 |
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ams2010-030
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(Thursday 24 June) Cafe de Koe, Marnixstraat 381, 1016 XR Amsterdam, Nederland (tel: 020 6254482) |
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ams2010-031
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(Thursday 24 June) Interior of Cafe de Koe |
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ams2010-033
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(Thursday 24 June) Zatte, a Belgian dark beer, Cafe de Koe |
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ams2010-035
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(Thursday 24 June) Zatte, a Belgian dark beer, Cafe de Koe |
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ams2010-038
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(Thursday 24 June) My dinner (Zatte, Dagschotel & Palm), Cafe de Koe |
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| A bike shop |
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A bike shop near Leidseplein. As I estimate, no other European cities have more bicycles (as the Dutch call "fiets") than Amsterdam. It seems to me that the bicycle is the most useful and most harmful vehicle (to pedestrians) in Amsterdam. |
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ams2010-039
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(Friday 25 June) A bike shop near Leidseplein |
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| Singel |
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The Singel is a canal in Amsterdam which encircled the city in the Middle Ages. It served as a moat around the city until 1585, when Amsterdam expanded beyond the Singel. The canal runs from the IJ bay, near Central Station, to the Muntplein square, where it meets the Amstel river. It is now the inner-most canal in Amsterdam's semicircular ring of canals.
The canal should not be confused with the Singelgracht canal, which became the outer limit of the city during the Dutch Golden Age in the seventeenth Century. Other Dutch towns also have ring-shaped canals named Singel. (Referred to the site of "Wikipedia") |
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ams2010-040
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(Friday 25 June) Singel, Amsterdam |
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ams2010-041
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(Friday 25 June) A view of Singel, Amsterdam |
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| Amsterdam tram |
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Amsterdam is famous for the great tram system. |
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ams2010-043
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(Friday 25 June) A tram on Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal |
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| Kobe House |
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Kobe House (Japanese teppanyaki restaurant) is located in the city centre: Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 77, 1012 RE Amsterdam. |
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ams2010-047
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(Friday 25 June) Kobe House (Japanese teppanyaki restaurant), Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 77, 1012 RE Amsterdam |
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ams2010-048
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(Friday 25 June) Kobe House (Japanese teppanyaki restaurant), Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 77, 1012 RE Amsterdam |
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| Amsterdam Centraal Railway Station |
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Amsterdam Centraal Railway Station is one of the main railway hubs of the Netherlands and is used by 166,000 passengers a day, excluding transferring passengers. It is also the starting point of Amsterdam Metro lines 51, 53, and 54. The station building of Amsterdam Centraal was designed by Pierre Cuypers and A. L. van Gendt, and opened in 1889. It features a roof span of approximately 40 metres fabricated in cast iron by Andrew Handyside of Derby, England. The station is currently under reconstruction due to the construction of the North/South metro line (metro line 52). Amsterdam Centraal is twinned with Liverpool Street station in London, United Kingdom -- the other terminus of the Dutchflyer rail-ferry service.
The building of Amsterdam Centraal is situated on three man-made islands, themselves resting on 8,687 wooden piles which have been driven deep into the muddy and sandy soil. The current location of the station is not the site the city of Amsterdam had originally hoped for; other possibilities included somewhere near the Leidseplein, the Weesperplein, or in the vicinity of the modern-day Sarphatipark. Officials in The Hague, however, felt that the eventual location at the head of the city, along The IJ, was the best location. This was a highly controversial decision, as it effectively cut off Amsterdam from its own waterfront, making it, for all purposes, an inland city. In his History of Amsterdam, Dutch historian Geert Mak writes that: Almost all of Amsterdam's own experts and others involved in thought this to be a catastrophic plan, 'the most disgusting possible attack on the beauty and glory of the capital.' Nevertheless, the building of the Central Station in front of the open harbor was forced through by the railway department of the Ministry of Transport in The Hague, and the Home Secretary, Thorbecke. Finally, the plan made its way through the Amsterdam municipal council by a narrow majority (Mak 1994). The Tokyo Station building is often said to be fashioned after it, but there is little evidence to support the theory. In fact, Terunobu Fujimori, a scholar of the Western architecture, denied the connection after studying both the building itself and the styles of Tokyo's station architect, Tatsuno Kingo. (Referred to the site of "Wikipedia")
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ams2010-051
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(Friday 25 June) Amsterdam Centraal Railway Station |
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ams2010-052
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(Friday 25 June) Amsterdam Centraal Railway Station |
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ams2010-053
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(Friday 25 June) Amsterdam Centraal Railway Station |
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| "Marco Polo" |
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"Marco Polo" Ristorante Italiano, Damrak 31 Amsterdam |
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ams2010-059
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(Friday 25 June) "Marco Polo" Ristorante Italiano, Damrak 31 Amsterdam |
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ams2010-061
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(Friday 25 June) My lunch (Tortellini Alfred, Insalata mista & Koffie) at "Marco Polo" Ristorante Italiano, Damrak 31 Amsterdam |
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ams2010-062
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(Friday 25 June) A street "witch" near "Marco Polo" Ristorante Italiano, Damrak 31 Amsterdam |
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| De Dam |
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Dam Square, or simply the Dam (Dutch: de Dam) is a town square in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. Its notable buildings and frequent events make it one of the most well-known and important locations in the city.
Dam Square lies in the historical center of Amsterdam, approximately 750 meters south of the main transportation hub, Centraal Station. It is roughly rectangular in shape, stretching about 200 meters from west to east and about 100 meters from north to south. It links the streets Damrak and Rokin, which run along the original course of the Amstel River from Centraal Station to Muntplein (Mint Square) and Munttoren. The Dam also marks the endpoint of other well-traveled streets, Nieuwendijk, Kalverstraat and Damstraat. A short distance beyond the northeast corner lies the main red-light district, de Wallen.
On the west end of the square is the neoclassical Royal Palace, which served as the city hall from 1655 until its conversion to a royal residence in 1808. Beside it are the fifteenth-century Gothic Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) and the Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. The National Monument, a white stone pillar designed by J.J.P. Oud and erected in 1956 to memorialize the victims of World War II, dominates the opposite side of the square. Also overlooking the plaza are the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky and the upscale department store De Bijenkorf. These various attractions have turned the Dam into a tourist zone. The square abounds with city pigeons, popular for bird-feeding. (Referred to the site of "Wikipedia") |
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ams2010-064
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(Friday 25 June) "Nationaal Monument" (the National Monument), Dam 1012 Amsterdam |
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ams2010-065
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(Friday 25 June) De Dam with a view of the Royal Palace and the Nieuwe Kerk. |
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ams2010-066
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(Friday 25 June) Royal Palace, De Dam, Amsterdam |
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ams2010-067
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(Friday 25 June) Royal Palace, de Dam, Amsterdam |
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ams2010-068
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(Friday 25 June) Madame Tussauds Amsterdam, viewed from de Dam |
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ams2010-069
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(Friday 25 June) Madame Tussauds Amsterdam, viewed from de Dam |
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| Westerkerk |
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The Westerkerk ("western church") is a Protestant church in Amsterdam, built in 1620-1631 after a design by Hendrick de Keyser. The church is right next to Amsterdam's Jordaan district, at the bank of the Prinsengracht canal. The spire is the highest church tower in Amsterdam, at 85 meters (279 feet). The crown topping the spire is the Imperial Crown of Austria of Maximilian I. The church bells were made by the brothers Hemony.
Rembrandt van Rijn was buried in the Westerkerk on October 8, 1669. The exact location of the grave is unknown, but presumed to be somewhere along the northern wall. Rembrandt's lover Hendrickje Stoffels is also buried here, and his son Titus van Rijn may also be. Other painters buried in the Westerkerk are Nicolaes Berchem, Gillis d'Hondecoeter, Melchior d'Hondecoeter and Govert Flinck. The church organ is decorated with doors painted by Gerard de Lairesse.
The Westerkerk is located close to the Achterhuis (now Anne Frank House) where diarist Anne Frank, her family and others hid from Nazi persecution for two years during World War II. The Westerkerk is mentioned frequently in her diary - its clock tower could be seen from the attic of the Achterhuis and Anne Frank described the chiming of the clock as a source of comfort. A memorial statue of Frank is located outside the church. Near the Westerkerk is the Homomonument, a memorial for men and women persecuted for their homosexuality. On March 10, 1969 Queen Beatrix (then Princess Beatrix) married Prince Claus in the Westerkerk. There are also churches called Westerkerk in other Dutch towns, including Leeuwarden, Enkhuizen, Amersfoort, Bunschoten, Ermelo and Capelle aan den IJssel. (Referred to the site of "Wikipedia") |
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ams2010-074
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(Friday 25 June) Westerkerk, Prinsengracht 281, 1016 GW Amsterdam |
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ams2010-076
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(Friday 25 June) Westerkerk, Prinsengracht 281, 1016 GW Amsterdam |
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| Anne Frank House |
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The Anne Frank House on Prinsengracht canal in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is a museum dedicated to Jewish wartime diarist Anne Frank (12 June 1929 in Frankfurt am Main - early March 1945 in Bergen Belsen), who hid from Nazi persecution with her family and four other people in hidden rooms at the rear of the building. Anne Frank wrote in her diary that it was relatively luxurious compared to other hiding places they had heard about. They remained hidden here for two years and one month until they were anonymously betrayed to the Nazi authorities, arrested, and deported to their deaths in concentration camps. Of the hidden group, only her father Otto Frank survived the war.
As well as the preservation of the hiding place -- known in Dutch as the Achterhuis -- and an exhibition on the life and times of Anne Frank, the museum acts as an exhibition space to highlight all forms of persecution and discrimination. It opened on 3 May 1960 with the aid of public subscription, three years after a foundation was established to protect the property from developers who wanted to demolish the block. (Referred to the site of "Wikipedia") |
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ams2010-080
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(Friday 25 June) Anne Frank House, Prinsengracht 263-265 Amsterdam |
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ams2010-083
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(Friday 25 June) Anne Frank House, Prinsengracht 263-265 Amsterdam |
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ams2010-085
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(Friday 25 June) Anne Frank House, Prinsengracht 263-265 Amsterdam |
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ams2010-086
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(Friday 25 June) Anne Frank House, Prinsengracht 263-265 Amsterdam |
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| Museum het Rembrandthuis |
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Museum het Rembrandthuis (the Rembrandt House Museum) is a house in Jodenbreestraat in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where Rembrandt lived and painted for a number of years. It is now a museum. Rembrandt purchased the house in 1639 and lived there until he went bankrupt in 1656, when all his belongings went on auction.
The house where Rembrandt lived between 1639 and 1658 is a museum: Museum het Rembrandthuis or the Rembrandt House Museum. The building was constructed in 1606 and 1607 for Cornelis van der Voort in what was then known as the Sint Anthonisbreestraat. The street did not come to be called Jodenbreestraat until later. The house was built on two lots in the eastern part of the city. Many rich merchants and artists settled in this new part of town. It is a substantial two-story dwelling with a stepped gable. In about 1627-28 the house was drastically remodeled. It was given a new facade, a triangular corniced pedimen -- the height of modernity at the time -- and another story was added. The reconstruction was probably overseen by Jacob van Campen, who was later to make his name as the architect of Amsterdam Town Hall (now The Dutch Royal Palace in Dam Square). (Referred to the site of "Wikipedia") |
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ams2010-087
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(Friday 25 June) Street plaque of Jodenbreestraat (literally meaning "Jewish Broadway") |
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ams2010-088
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(Friday 25 June) Street plaque of Jodenbreestraat (literally meaning "Jewish Broadway") |
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ams2010-089
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(Friday 25 June) Museum Het Rembrandthuis (Rembrandt House), Jodenbreestraat 4-6, Amsterdam 1011 |
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ams2010-091
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(Friday 25 June) Museum Het Rembrandthuis (Rembrandt House), Jodenbreestraat 4-6, Amsterdam 1011 |
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ams2010-092
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(Friday 25 June) Museum Het Rembrandthuis (Rembrandt House), Jodenbreestraat 4-6, Amsterdam 1011 |
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| Magere Brug |
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The Magere Brug ("Skinny Bridge") is a bridge over the river Amstel in the city centre of Amsterdam. It connects the banks of the river at Kerkstraat (Church Street) between Keizersgracht (Emperors' Canal) and Prinsengracht (Princes' Canal). The central section of the Magere Brug is a bascule bridge made of white-painted wood. The present bridge was built in 1934. The first bridge at this site was built in 1691 as Kerkstraatbrug and had 13 arches. Because this bridge was very narrow, the locals called it magere brug, which literally means "skinny bridge." In 1871 the state of the bridge was so bad that it was demolished and replaced by a nine-arched wooden bridge. Fifty years later this bridge also needed to be replaced. Architect Piet Kramer made several designs for a steel and stone bridge, but the city decided to replace it with a new bridge that looked the same as the previous, only slightly bigger. In 1934 the bridge was demolished and replaced. The last major renovation was in 1969. Until 1994 the bridge was opened by hand, but now is opened automatically.
Use of the bridge has been limited to pedestrians and cyclists since 2003. It is however opened many times a day in order to let through river traffic. The boats used for sightseeing tours are low enough to pass underneath the bridge when closed. The bridge is decorated with 1200 light bulbs that are illuminated in the evening. A story told to tourists about the origins of the 1691 version of the bridge is that it was built by two wealthy sisters who lived on opposite sides of the Amstel river and wanted to be able to visit one another every day (and were presumably too busy, or not in good enough health, to go the long way round via another bridge, of which there must surely have been at least one). In one variant of the story the sisters, although wealthy, were not quite wealthy enough to afford a bridge of adequate width for general use and so built a very narrow bridge, hence its name. In another variant of the story the sisters' last name was Mager, hence the bridge's name (rather than from its narrowness). The bridge can be seen in a number of films, such as the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971). (Referred to the site of "Wikipedia") |
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ams2010-093
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(Friday 25 June) Magere Brug over the Amstel
River |
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ams2010-097
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(Friday 25 June) Magere Brug over the Amstel
River |
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ams2010-099
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(Friday 25 June) Magere Brug over the Amstel
River |
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ams2010-100
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(Friday 25 June) Magere Brug over the Amstel
River |
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ams2010-101
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(Friday 25 June) Magere Brug over the Amstel
River |
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ams2010-102
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(Friday 25 June) Magere Brug over the Amstel
River |
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ams2010-103
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(Friday 25 June) Magere Brug over the Amstel
River |
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| "Yun Zhong" |
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"Yun Zhong" is a Chinese restaurant located at Leidsestraat 95, 1017 NZ Amsterdam (tel: 06 21718207) (off Leidseplein) |
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ams2010-104
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(Friday 25 June) "Yun Zhong," Leidsestraat 95, 1017 NZ Amsterdam (off Leidseplein) |
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ams2010-105
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(Friday 25 June) My dinner (1 Ha kau, 1 Broccoli with garlic sauce, 1 Bami soep met eend & 2 Leffe Blond) at "Yun Zhong" |
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| Kiosk Rembrandt van Gogh |
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Kiosk Rembrandt van Gogh, Paulus Potterstraat 3-A, 1071 CX Amsterdam, Nederland (tel: 020 6731771). This lunch kiosk is located in Lunchkiosk Museumplein between Rijksmuseum Amsterdam and the Van Gogh Museum. |
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ams2010-111
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(Saturday 26 June) Kiosk Rembrandt van Gogh, Paulus Potterstraat 3-A, 1071 CX Amsterdam |
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ams2010-113
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(Saturday 26 June) My lunch (2 seafood sandwiches and a creamed iced coffee) at Kiosk Rembrandt van Gogh, Paulus Potterstraat 3-A, 1071 CX Amsterdam |
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