Here we are! Oooh, and a giant sign to tell us so.

And here is the sign in its entirety. The sign/sculpture is at Museumplein (Museum Square) near the Van Gogh museum. There is an ‘I amsterdam‘ tourism campaign. I like the small pun.

I am Joan!

Here are the most Amsterdamish modes of transport — canal boats and bicycles.

And tiny putt-putt cars. These Canta LX cars are everywhere.

Amsterdam is Bicycle Capital. Cambridge and Oxford have NOTHING on Amsterdam. I have never seen so many bicycles. There were lots of strange ones but I only got a picture of this one. I saw one rider with a child in front, a baby at the back and a dog in the pouch.

Obviously, bicycle theft is rife so there is a roaring trade in bicycle locks.

And, apparently, a similar crime spree for outdoor furniture theft, too.

I found this little clog at Albert Cuypmarkt, where my parents and I went to by fruit and nuts.

I learned something at the Jewish flea market in Amsterdam.

Other things you can buy at the market — hash pops.

And cannabis lollies. The signs made me giggle. I like puns, remember. Why is the sign in English? It must be for the benefit of the tourists. Nearly all Dutch people under a certain age speak some level of English as well.

Speaking of clichés and stereotypes, what’s with this bar? Slanderous!

Amsterdam is home to some of the most famous art in the world by Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Vermeer. The whole time we were in Amsterdam, we didn’t step into a museum once. We did enjoy the free street art, though. This was just off a main road.

Someone or some people seem to have decided to use temporary construction fencing in Vondelpark for a modern art installation…

More ‘art’, this time the lights in our hotel room.

Amsterdam is full of really interesting buildings, old and new. You can see in this photo the hooks on the roof of each house. Lots of houses have them. The hooks are used to hoist things to the upper floors of a house. This is necessary because houses in Amsterdam are narrow and their staircases are narrower. In fact, Amsterdam claims to have the narrowest house in the world. A curious by-product of this hoist system is that many Amsterdam houses have a distinct forward lean so that things being hoisted up don’t bang against the walls.

I have no idea what ‘BELT U EVEN’ means. It might be English or it might not be.

…Ah! I’ve just put ‘belt u even’ into Babel Fish. The translation from Dutch to English is ‘you ring just as’.