Not a whole lot to share today. The big event in town was the Pride Parade. The unique thing about Amsterdam is that instead of people marching in the streets or having floats pulled by trucks or tractors, the Parade is held in boats on the Canal. I had both a really good spot and a really horrible spot to watch the parade. It was a really good spot because there weren’t many people where I was standing. It was 6 or 7 people deep in other areas. And what made “my spot” so empty of others is because I was in the center of two bridges. Because of that, most of the people on the boats remained crouched until they cleared the second bridge. And all of the “special effects” any of them had planned were not done until they cleared the second bridge. The parade was to go from 12:30 - 6:00pm. By 3pm, I’d had enough standing in one spot and left. Plus, it was mostly a lot of waiting around for the next boat. One boat would come by and then it would be 5 minutes or so before the next boat would come. It got a little boring, especially since I then also didn’t get to see any of the “show” the boat planned, if any.
Before the parade I had breakfast of an egg stuffed croissant with salmon and a small salad. I guess the cream cheese was for the salmon.
After the parade, I had a apple and bacon pancake for lunch. The Dutch love their pancakes! I also had Dutch coffee (which I didn’t know was a thing). Now I want Dutch Coffee every morning! It is coffee with eggnog and whipped cream. YUM!
I walked through the flower market, which is really just a market that sells tulip bulbs. You can get just about every color and type of tulip imaginable. Walter loves tulips, but there are always strict rules about agricultural things that you are allowed to bring back to the states, so it’s best to order on-line. This was only three booths, but the market is an entire block long on both sides. And all of the booths sold tulips!
This evening I went to an organ concert at the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. They have a photojournalist exhibit going on as well, but unfortunately it was completely blocked off for those who were attending the concert.
As you can see, the organ is covered by painted doors that are then opened before playing and the pulpit mantel piece is immense, probably one of the largest I’ve ever seen. They had a screen set up, so that you could watch the organist play (as he/she is tucked away behind the paneling). What impressed me the most were the organ stops. They are basically door knobs and it looked like it took a fair amount of strength to open and close them as we watched the organist and his assistant doing it together throughout each piece.
One of the foundation sculptures in town:
The famous Dutch windmill. I saw several of them on the train ride from Brugge to Amsterdam, but I didn’t get a chance to photograph them. I hope to do so tomorrow on my way back to Belgium.
This tower (not sure if I shared it yesterday) is called Mint Tower (or Munttoren in Dutch). This tower was originally part of the main gates in the Medieval City Wall - built in 1480 and is probably one of the oldest structures still standing in the city. The top half of the tower was added in 1620 after a fire destroyed the gate and the opposite tower. This top half included the clock, carillon of bells, and the open spire. The name comes from the fact that the tower itself was used to mint coins in the 17th Century.
Do you see anything wrong with this picture? Maybe something with the building on the right side of center? A lot of buildings in Amsterdam are like that. Look at the red door in the second picture below.
Mini Dutch pancakes - so cute!
Tomorrow I’m off to visit friends in the southern part of Belgium - the Wallonia area - excited to see this part of Belgium.
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