Yesterday I had the opportunity to go exploring / touring Amsterdam with my cousin who lives in Amsterdam. The trip started out by me getting lost on my bike while biking to our meeting location at the Museumplein. Thankfully after some directions from some friendly Dutch people I managed to arrive only 10 minutes late.

This was the view our meeting location. Here you can see a large building with a painting form the Dutch artist Vermeer, who lived in the 1600s.

After walking around the Museumplien for a bit we made our way over to the Vondelpark. This park is very famous for the people who live in Amsterdam. I’ve only been here a week and I’ve heard it mentioned a number of times. Apparently when it is nice weather all the Dutch people in Amsterdam come here to relax. Also, during rush hour this park serves as a high-way for bikers commuting to and from work.

This is a picture taken of a typical Dutch street while walking to the Vondelpark.

A beautiful heron by the water in Vondelpark.

Some orange tourist bikes locked up on a bridge in Vondelpark (apparently only the tourists ride the orange bikes. This way it is very easy to spot them :P ).

Next we went back on our bikes at biked to the centrum which is the center core of Amsterdam. It was very busy there with lots of shops and the like. We made lots of stops and did lots of different things. I will just talk about the pictures I show below.

I like this 1st one because of the mother with her child chasing the pigeons. The man feed the pigeons had “Jamaica” written on his hat. You can also see lots of bikes in the background. There are really bikes everywhere in the Netherlands.

This next picture is really quite something… I was blown away when I saw this. Here are two swans that have made their nest out of garbage! How crazy is that eh? The contrast of the beautiful swan and the nest made from the city garbage is incredible.

Also, the swan is a much bigger animal than I had thought. “The largest species … can reach length of over 1.5 m (60 inches) and weigh over 15 kg (33 pounds). Their wingspans can be almost 3 m (10 ft).” (Source: Wikipedia)

The final two pictures are just random pictures from places in the city.

Some other things I am learning about the Dutch and the culture here is that the Dutch people really do drink a lot of coffee, and when it’s not coffee we will be drinking beer.  It’s great eh?  ;)  The Dutch are also friendly and willing to help.  Also, everybody here can speak English very well.  I haven’t met a person yet that I cannot speak English to.  This is great because then I know I can communicate but it also makes learning Dutch a bit more challenging.

Next weekend I plan to visit my Uncle and Aunt in Amersfoort and I hope to take some good pictures of that city as well.

So I hope you enjoyed the photos and that all is well.

Larso