Amsterdam Day 2

 Thursday 16th October Amsterdam day2

This morning I had decided on the Flower market, only a half an hour walk away, past this magnificent building, that I later learnt was the old post office, it now has shops in it, although when I went inside later in the afternoon, it was sadly nearly empty but for Mango and another chain shop Sissy something? It didn’t offer what it promoted on the outside, shopping and food

I eventually moved on to new streets and new sites coming to this clock tower and new canals and getting confused at which way I was facing on Google Maps.

Then there it was, at first it looked really exciting, but I soon understood that it was the wrong season to be looking for flowers, but the right one to be looking for bulbs

It was interesting to see what was on offer though, I would love to get my hands on some of the lovely alliums they had on offer.

Another cheese shop or three, I then ventured into a department store that was recommended to me. I t was big designer brands , not really me though. I did venture in to the Christmas shop.

I decided on a canal cruise and on the way back to the station and the canal they leave from I decided I quite liked this building. the colour, the windows and the decoration.

On board, it was nice to see buildings from a different perspective. The train station.

Perhaps I should have straightened it up but …

the Chinese restaurant that our guide told us, that it matches one in Hong Kong. He added, I’m not sure if truthfully that when it opened they invited 400 Dutch people which was its capacity, but it sunk as 400 Dutch are much heavier than 400 Chinese? He also told us that the Dutch are a very tall race, which was interesting to me as I had noticed some very tall people on my wandering, where I reached to mid arm, but there are so many tourists it’s hard to know who is who.

Then there is the Booking.com building that they sold to a German Bank during the  pandemic and now rent it back at a huge rate.

The Science museum.

Then we travelled through the canals, he explained much about them which I have forgotten unfortunately, something to do with the width of the houses in the more expensive areas, which are now more commercial rather than residential, about the different gables and that they all have a hoisting hook for getting furniture into the upper storeys. there is also a famous bridge where you can view 7? Other bridges, unfortunately there was a boat in the way. He also talked about the houseboats ranging in price from 500K to 2Million.

One house boat had chickens on it, some are in old sailing ships others floating on a platform. After the cruise I went for another wander and found a Strooperie where they make the famous Stroop waffles.

A bit too sweet for my liking, maybe could have done without the Nutella spread, but at least I didn’t go for the toppings like smarties and marshmallows. But when in Amsterdam one has to try it.  I did come across a Condomerie as well which I didn’t photograph, but wondered if I had perhaps wandered into the wrong area, but it was really close to a church!

Liked theses building decorations 

Another cheese shop 

I went through the station, to make sure I knew where to catch the train to the airport on Saturday, I found the IJ passage, a shopping mall, it is not an abbreviation but takes you through to the river? Ij Shows a more commercial area of Amsterdam. With shipping 

That was it for Day 2.