First things first…..

Then we went exploring around the streets taking in the pretty buildings – they just don’t make ’em like they used to.

We wandered down smaller laneways dodging the cyclists.

Marvelled at the pretty houseboats

and couldn’t quite understand how anyone would know which bike was theirs….. we were once on a tour here years ago where the tour guide was asked about bicycle theft and she said her bike was stolen once so she walked home and got her bolt cutters and just stole somebody else’s…..  Probably why none of the bikes here are flash.

What is flash though is some of the entrances to the house boats.

I love the history of Amsterdam… these hooks up the top there were used to haul things up from the street – in the earlier days when these canal houses would have been warehouses for all sorts of things, to nowadays when people use them to get furniture inside.  Ingenious!

This is Anne Frank House Museum… the actual house is back to the left a bit, but this is where you enter the museum with at least 300+ of your closest friends at any given time.

We might come back tomorrow and see if the line is a bit smaller….

Amsterdam is not a huge place, so this afternoon we managed to walk about a quarter of the centre….. then home to our lovely, cosy hotel.

Tomorrow we hit the flower markets!