Amsterdam at Night

I've got to tell the back story here.  We missed Bergen to hustle on down to Amsterdam only to find our way into the lock that you must pass through to get to the city blocked by protesters who had chained themselves to the gates.  We honestly had to wonder about the security at the locks if people are able to do that.  They also had a big banner next to them saying "You aren't wanted here", not exactly a warm welcome.  We aren't the only ones this has happened to over the last year or so but authorities won't do anything about it because the people are "peaceful" protesters.  Anyways, we pulled in about 6:30 this morning, then backed out again to wait at Anchorage #8 while the port authorities and the mayor of Amsterdam sorted it all out.  Finally, late in the afternoon Serenade was cleared to head into the city.

The thing is, it takes about four hours to get to through the lock and then sail into the city, which meant there was no way we'd make an 8:15 canal boat tour so Mark got on the phone to see about availability at 9:15.  There was room but we still had to dock and get cleared to get off in time to walk over to the tour location.  The group of us were towards the front of the line to get off at 8:40 and we hurried over to the massive Amsterdam Centraal to find our boat location nearby.

Turned out we arrived in plenty of time.  We saw this nice flower boat tied to the dock and were hoping this was the one we'd get in,

but it turned out this was our tour boat instead.  It was comfortable and the guides were entertaining so it worked out well.

Reminiscent of Lūbeck, some of the buildings in Amsterdam have a definite lean to them.  They've been standing there for centuries and they're tired.  Notice how narrow the houses are.  That's because once again, owners were taxed on the width of their home, not the square footage.  They do look lovely all lit up at night.

Hard to make it out but looking through this one bridge you can actually see six more, for a total of seven bridges in a row.

Not quite as many through this one but more arches on the first one.

This house would have belonged to a wealthy merchant, notice how wide it is.  Most of the buildings like this are used for businesses these days.  Properties along the canals are extremely expensive.

Just one more bridge and the buildings around it as we made a turn to head back to the dock.  See the bicycles on the bridge?  More of them fall into the canals every year than anything else.  There is actually a boat that runs through the canals pulling bikes out of them.  The other two things that typically fall into the water are people and cars.

It was definitely a full moon tonight in Amsterdam.

The Basilica of Saint Nicholas stands near the the Amsterdam Centraal Station.  It's been a part of the landscape since 1887.  Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of Amsterdam and this church is the primary Catholic church in the city.

Took us a couple of tries to get the selfie right at night but we got it figured out.

The station was completed before the church, having been in operation since 1884.  Controversial when it was built because it was so close to the water, it now handles almost 200,000 passengers each day on local and international trains.

The style here is Gothic, Renaissance Revival.  It's definitely drawing your eyes upward.

All in all it was a great way to spend a couple of hours with some of my favorite people!  Thanks to Michelle and Mark for making it happen!