Amsterdam sights in a day

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Craig's mother's cousin Sylvia who has lived in Amsterdam all her life was kind enough to spend several days with us showing us her much beloved city. And you can see why she loves it so much. Firstly she took us to the flower markets which were amazingly cheap for such gorgeous tulips. We then walked through the art markets before finding a secret door that took us into a little oasis - a circular block of apartments with a garden and church in the middle. This block of homes in the past were homes ONLY for Catholic single women (see the statue in the photo of how the ladies use to dress), and even today you can only live there if you are Catholic and single. This courtyard is also home to a 'secret' church, which was a beautiful church inside one of the buildings - you would think it was a normal apartment block to look at from the outside. In the middle of the courtyard was an English church.
Leaving this little oasis we went to the 'David and Golieth' cafe for lunch. The cafe is adjacent to the Museum of the History of Amsterdam. The 'David and Golieth' art piece in the cafe was a wooden statue made in the 1600s that has mechanics (ropes and pulleys) in its back that once made it's head and its eyes move.

From there we toured the museum and learned a little about the land and how it was populated, how they made it usable (low flat marshy land). From there we went to the Dam Square which is the main square in Amsterdam - there is currently some rides set up/carnival set up for Queensday (and it was already getting very busy before Queens day). We then had a quick break in a cafe before heading to the Red Light District - sorry no photos as we didnt want to upset anyone in the windows. This was an eye opener thats for sure. But for women, surprising in that women of all walks of life, with all shapes and sizes were offering themselves, rather than all skinny big boobed gorgeous women.

We then went to a little square that each year for Queens day is set up with an old fashioned carnival for children, and this was adjacent to a building that use to be where all new stock that had been shipped in was weighed and measured but is now a very popular restaurant.

Sylvia then took us through China Town filled with many lovely smells we had not smelt for weeks. We then went to the Rembrant Plein (Square) for dinner followed by a short stroll up to the main bridge over the Amstel River.

It was fantastic to have Sylvia show us the city as we saw many places that we would not even have known existed. - Sorry Sylvia that we can not recall all the names of the buildings for the blog - there were just too many lovely sites to remember.

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Photos

Kellie
Kellie in some nice fitting clogs

Craig
Craig comins into Amsterdam

Canal
A view down one of the canals in Amsterdam

Magna Plaza
An old building turned into a 3 level shopping mall

Flower Market
The flower markets are full of tulips at this time of year

Church Square
The square where all the single catholic women lived

Church
The church off the square. This is supposedly the location of where a miracle was witnessed

David & Goliath
The David & Goliath statue at the cafe where we had lunch

Old Church
This church is in the old city between the Red Light District & Chinatown

Bike parking
This is at central station where it seems everyone parks their bike... there still isn't enough room

Amstel River Bridge
A bridge over the Amstel River

Amstel River Boat
Everyone gets a spot on the boats