Europe Here I Come - Part 6a

Amsterdam, Holland.
There are too many pictures for this post so I have to break them into two parts, Part 6a and 6b.

Beside the wooden shoes or clogs, Holland is symbolized by the windmill. I will always remember Holland for Xaviera Hollander the author of The Happy Hooker who wrote a book mostly about her profession as a prostitute as she was from Holland.

The people of Holland prefer to call their country as The Netherland but of course it would be easier for us to refer to this country as Holland. If you recall it, most of Holland is below sea level meaning any breach of their dikes or any rise in the sea level will render most of Holland to be underwater. With the global warming up and ice at the poles melting very fast, that catastrophe remains a possibility sometimes in the future.
We left Paris in the early morning heading for Amsterdam the capital of Holland.

Along the way I saw this signboard informing motorists of the interesting things that can be sighted in the area, such as wild deers, the wood and I cant comprehend the other symbol, I asked Eddy the driver on the possibility of sighting a wild deer. Immediately he sighted one and pointed it out to me. If it was in Malaysia, that deer would have been dead meat ready for cooking. But not in Europe where protected wild animals are really protected not only by the government but also by the people.

We reached the toll and I saw Eddy paid the toll. It amounted to something like Euros80. Quite a big amount but then this is the only toll so far. Malaysians will be able to boast that we have the highest number of tolled roads per city in the world.
This is also a windmill or the wind turbine. This kind of windmill generates electricity which is fed to the national grid.

At a rest area we found this colorful flowers. Mekyam said they were the azaleas.
A building with Brick In The Wall on its wall reminds me of a blog by the name of Another Brick In The Wall which is a social political blog. Read it if you like sopo blogs.
It was a holiday in Europe and people were moving about to holiday somewhere. Since Holland have many water bodies such as lakes and even the sea, jet skis are the in thing for those who have them. Others brought their mobile homes and bicycles are always seen hanging somewhere.

When we stopped for lunch, we saw this father and daughter doing the same. She was having a banana while our group (below) ate whatever we brought along.

This bridge reminds me of either the Penang Bridge or those new bridges in Putra Jaya.
Amsterdam is straight ahead.
before we reach our hotel, we sighted a windmill and that really excites me.
This is our hotel Dutch Design Hotel De Artemis, Amsterdam.
Lounging around before getting the keys to our room.
Puan Zainida of Poto Travel distributing the keys to our rooms.

We were supposed to have a free time but since our hotel was located outside the city area, some of us decided to pool resources and collect enough money to convince Eddy to take us to town in his bus and later take us home. Thanks to Tuan Haji Mustapha for taking the initiative. It was indeed a very wise decision. A win-win situation for Eddy and us. Me and my wife was the last to be informed of the arrangement and can you imagine how fast it took us to dress up since everybody else were already waiting in the bus?

We sighted thousands of bicycles being parked here. I tell you this was just a section of them. It seemed that this was near the central station and rail commuters will park their bikes here before taking the train. Come another working day they will pick their bikes and go to their respective offices.

A sinking ship?

Its the Nemo where somebody had this idea of creating a science center based on a sinking ship. I don't really know much of what there was in this Science Center. From afar we could see people sun bathing on the deck of the 'ship'.

A cathedral I presume.
Shopping areas. Souvenir hunters will be contented to be here.
A tourist bus seems to be a normal sight in Europe.
Fridge magnets anyone?
These policemen obliged when I asked for a photograph with them.
Tourist taxi. A ride costs Euro 10 for half an hour using leg power.
This pretty lass pedal one of the city taxis. Here she is waiting for customers who have booked her taxi. She had been to KL! Can't recall her name though.Two buskers doing their bit.

The inner lanes. Somewhere behind this lane is the Red Light District. A write up by a VTer about the redlight area. The area may be reformed into a shopping area by 2015 so if you want to see it as it is, better visit Amsterdam now. The area is also famous for it's coffeeshop where you can buy and smoke cannabis freely. Is this the Parliament House? A reader commented below that it is the Central Station in Amsterdam. Now we know why the many bicycles were parked around the area.

Our official tour of Amsterdam started the next day with a visit to a diamond cutting factory.
Free drinks were provided at a place outside the factory so that guests can wait for their guide to take them for a tour of the factory.
Our guide is a handsome yaoung man by the name of Teddy. Teddy is an Indonesian and has been with the factory for 12 yers.
A craftsman at work

Ain't that a beauty?

Another gen in gold. Don't get carried away as it wasn't photographed from the chest of a lady.
Some rings when the flash didn't fire.

As seen under the flash. How beautiful the ring looks on the finger of a young lady.
In the middle of the sales pitch, Teddy was interrupted by the arrival of the factory's management staff. They have come to give Teddy a bouquet of flowers for being his twelfth year with the company. Teddy must be a successful salesman.

A world of contrast awaited us upon exiting the factory

A Honda Civic Hybrid where electricity is partly used to drive this 1300 cc Honda Civic. The non hybrid uses the 1800 cc engine which only petrol driven.
The old and trusted Morris Minor which should be about 40 years old now.

The next part of our tour is the canal tours.
This is where we take off.
Most of the passengers were from our group except for a few others.
Just like Paris, there were boat houses lined up on the river banks with a backdrop of beautiful buildings.
Three roses and a thorn waiting for their boat on a bank.
I wonder if DHL makes deliveries by boats too in Amsterdam. 'Yes they did' said CvG a reader of this blog. He mentioned that there are bicycles on this boat which were used by the staff to deliver the consigments to their customers. What a great way to deliver parcels. The boat itself is a great advertisement.
An apartment for sale. This is a posh area of Amsterdam so if your pocket is deep enough, you may make inquiries. A 95 sq meters of apartments costs something like Euro 460,000 which translates to over RM2.27 million. (Thanks to GvG for the info)
This can't be a boat house. Effort are being made to curb the construction of such houses as they are not really a boat house.
Faces of Amsterdam.

A dame with large ear rings
Two elderly ladies
Netherlands welcome people from countries they have once colonied such as the Indonesians or Surinams.
The serenity of a canal devoid of houseboats and and other moving conveyance.
There is much more to see of Holland and it will appear in Part 6b.