Amsterdam Pics

There are a lot of buildings and homes in Amsterdam that are leaning because the foundation is poor however many are intentionally leaning forward. This was because the homes were originally taxed based on how wide they were so many people tried to make them skinny, meaning also skinny staircases. Also since there is a mice problem the goods brought by sailors would need to be stored in the top floors. So all the buildings have hooks at the top and use them to pull things up to the upper floors. The leaning forward helps stop things from smashing into the windows.
For a couple hundred years Catholism was outlawed, however people were allowed to practice privately in their homes. During the tour we took we passed here an old rich merchants home (one on the left with white windows) a few blocks from St. Nicolaaskerk who had a secret Catholic church in the attic called Amstelkring or Ons Lieve Heer Op Solder (“Our Dear Lord in the Attic”). It’s now a museum and unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit it. Our tour guide also explained that this was the start of the Rules of Dutch Tolerance. They are 1) Be discreet (secret church in an attic- check) 2) Don’t hurt anyone (duh, its church- check) and 3) Be good for business (church was charged to run- check). This is also what’s applied to marijuana use and “coffeehouses” (two buildings from the right of the secret church).

Flower Market
Damrak- was the main waterway in the city until 1672 when it was dammed (apparently it stank) and now is sort of a rectangular lake/pond thing.
Our hotel
My cat friend in our restaurant... they like cats in Amsterdam because of a mice problem. Loved that.
more leaning buildings
Anne Frank statue outside Westerkerk (the church that she enjoyed listening to the bells of until the Germans had them melted down.)
famous sign outside the Rijkmuseum
Pretty neighborhood near our hostel
our room ~ when we got there the first night two Turkish guys were there and one was lying on our bed, which is not desirable. He moved but went to another bunk where he proceeded to have his feet on the pillow, luckily no one was staying in that one. There were also three Australians who got back in teh middle of the night.


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