Amsterdam - On the Water

Of course you'd find it pretty difficult to come back from Amsterdam without a picture or two of the canals. After making my way to the hotel on the first day I had the rest of the afternoon to spend in the city. I took a little wander out with nothing particular to do in mind and it wasn't long before I stumbled across a stop for one of the water buses.So of course I bought a ticket jumped on and spent the rest of the day hopping from boat to boat taking a tour round the different canals that run through the city. What a great way to figure out where all the major landmarks are. These are a few shots that I took while on the boats that afternoon.
Amsterdam has to be famous for, among other things, all of the magnificent buildings that line the canals.The different architecture is amazing, and on a lovely blue sky day you get some wonderful reflections in the canal. Sadly I didn't quite manage to capture that very well in any of my photos, this one above is probably the best.A lot of the canals are also lined with fabulous houseboats. It must be a very different experience to live on the water I think. One of the boats has been turned in to a museum and it wasn't until I went on that I realised how much these vessels bob and sway in the water, even though they are on permanent mooring spots. If you live and sleep on the bobbing water, walking down the streets on sea legs must be an odd thing to experience each day.

I think it must be wonderful to live in a city dominated by water and the canals. I'd never really thought too much about it before but this canal filled city has cast a spell and now I long to visit Venice!

Canals weren't the only water I saw though. On Saturday afternoon I jumped on a tourist bus to see a few out of Amsterdam sights and got to visit a couple of pretty little fishing ports.Marken HarbourVolendam Harbour.

I will have more to tell you about my excursion in the next Amsterdam post .......