Wednesday 7 September 2011

i heart amsterdam - singel


My dear blog friends, as I had promised, it's time for the part two of our Saturday's Amsterdam 'journey'. In my last 'I heart Amsterdam'-post I left you with Chanel cupcakes on Westermarkt (top-left corner on the Google map) and now we are crossing the Niek Engelschmanbrug bridge over the Keizersgracht canal to continue into the Raadhuisstraat street. Niek Engelschman (1913 -1988) was a Dutch gay activist, who was also active in the Resistance during World War II when Holland was occupied by Nazi Germany. Two years before his death he received the Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau and ten years after his death the bridge was named after him. When walking along Raadhuisstraat to the east you'll see the Royal Palace in front of you and behind it is the Dam square. However, we turned south and walked along the Singel canal. I saw that older man with the hat and I couldn't resist photographing him and his bicycle. He was busy searching for books outside the Antiquariaat Brinkman, a bookshop that specializes in out-of-print scholarly material.


When walking along the Singel you pass by a few very narrow streets that take you to the Spuistraat street. In one of those narrow streets is the entrance to the Restaurant D'Vijff Vlieghen (The Five Flies), a famous one that has been there forever and describes itself as a culinary museum. The Singel was rather quiet on Saturday but Spuistraat was bursting with life. We sat down and had drinks while enjoying the street life, especially a group of performers doing some kind of dance and gymnastics by the square. On the square is the Athenaeum Boekhandel bookshop and across the street The American Book Center, just in case you find yourself in Amsterdam and run out of reading material.


We entered the Singel again and the photo above is the last one I took on that street before we crossed the canal to walk back into the De 9 Straatjes district. There is something about it that I really like, people going about their day without knowing they're being photographed. That's just Amsterdam, its relaxed inhabitants are used to the tourists with their cameras. I think they stopped noticing them a long time ago.

photo credit: Lisa Hjalt

17 comments:

  1. Oh Holland, why are you so magnificent? :)
    One day me and Cas will live there, at least for a few months! And I can't wait to visit this Christmas :)

    Hugs,
    Signe

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  2. I never get tired of your photos or your travel posts (or any other posts for that matter, wink). If you keep sharing such beautiful pics of Amsterdam I'll have to book a flight soon. xo

    PS: guess what I finally got! the September issue of Vogue US. I finally tracked it down in the Marriott lobby, ha ha. I couldn't find it anywhere else. :)

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  3. Oh Lisa, you're taking me right back to Amsterdam! J & I went on our honeymoon almost two years ago and had such an incredible time. The photos are just gorgeous :)

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  4. The pictures are lovely and I sure that I would love that city ;o) (among others ;o)
    But it is only nice to have many favorites and places that you want to visit ;o)
    Nice thursday to you ...

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  5. i m being so nostalgic now, u cannot even imagine :)

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  6. I love getting up in the morning and being transported on a trip on the other side of the world...thanks for the tour!
    Helen

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  7. Amsterdam is so beautiful, I love the old houses and the bridges:)
    I did get to visit a couple of times many years ago and really loved Holland.
    Thank you for sharing the gorgeous tour.
    Wendy x

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  8. Fabulous, Lisa! Thanks for this tour, history and your beautiful photos. I visited many years ago for too short a visit and would love to go back x

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  9. Wow, Lisa!! Such wonderful photos!!

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  10. Nice photos Lisa. Maybe I will get a chance to visit Amsterdam one day!

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  11. i can't wait to visit amsterdam. thanks for this lovely chance to visit it with you.
    and so many book shops!

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  12. Again, love your photo's!! Especially because the people don't seem to notice the camera, you've captured them so secretly (yet I bet you totally weren't invisible;) Due to an overload of students a couple of years ago I have followed many many lessons in that church on het Spui. Great memories haha.

    Can't wait to see the third part.

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  13. These photos are beautiful! I love the way the signs look with the beautiful black!

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  14. Thank you for this lovely tour of amsterdam...I am itching to get there myself one day. How lucky are you to live so close to everything!! Do you need a live-in maid? ;)

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  15. thanks for sharing your pics. I truly enjoyed your little tour!

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  16. de bien belles images qui me rapellent mon escapade de Printemps dans cette jolie ville!MErciiii
    Un délice!
    Biz

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  17. Lovely photos :) I love Amsterdam too!!! <3

    My last trip there was in April, and I remember the place in your last pic so well! It was so cute and I wanted to go there, but we were in a hurry so I just had to settle with the glimpse of what seemed like a really nice place to sit down and have a coffee..:)

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