we got lucky in amsterdam

*updated with a few details & photos on sept. 1st

when we first stepped of the train in amsterdam i saw red faces and sunburnt shoulders everywhere. i thought...these fair skinned people should know better and put on sun screen! but apparently it's not always so nice and sunny in amsterdam and many of the locals were caught without protection.

we are loving it here! the perfect weather, the canals, house boats, the mix of the old city center and the modern architecture, white haired children and bicycles. bicycles everywhere! we extended our stay an extra day just to see more.

whacky crooked buildings in amsterdam

we picked up a walking tour guide at the tourist information office. the area of zeeburg was highlighted by 3 tours of various lengths. we looked at the photos in the guide and decided to combine the 3 tours into our own custom made zeeburg tour. the focus of the area is modern architecture which is quite different from the old city center but some of the ideas are the same. there are streets that have townhouses where the facades are created by a different architect every 27m. twin facades are repeated in a different order on other nearby streets just like in the old city.

jason standing on one of nine bridges designed by local artists

the whale

flat hannah, flat ellie & flat sasha begging auntie corina

to stop walking & go for a bike ride!

flat jane & flat owen picked the classic black for their amsterdam bike tour.

we stayed with a lovely family of couchsurfing hosts for 3 days and now we are in a hotel right in the center near the train station. tomorrow we leave for utrecht to see a house designed by gerrit rietveld. i studied this architect in school and actually wrote a couple of papers on him and this house. i'm quite excited to see it for real!

goedag,
corina