Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, is famous for it's buildings and canals. The large number of canals here have made it the "Venice of the north". Our first trip that summer from Eindhoven that summer was to this European capital.
The first thing we did that day was to get the I Amsterdam card from the information centre. This aptly termed key to Amsterdam helped us through the day and saved us a lot of time.We hopped on to a tram headed to the Madame Tussauds wax museum. Trams form an important part of transit here. They are used as much as the Amsterdam metro and more so by the tourists who think travelling underground is a waste of time. True enough, the buildings in Amsterdam are amazing and shouldn't be missed.Barack Obama, the president of the U.S.A looked twice as life in his waxy form, welcoming us to the lobby of the museum. If I were an unsuspecting stranger, I would have been completely fooled. The first program was a show on the history of the Netherlands. It is of course, known that most of the country is below sea level. Few centuries ago, it was a huge problem. Large areas of land were consumed by water and rendered unusable. People had to find a way to drain it away and make the land worthwhile. Windmills were extensively used for this purpose. Innovations and developments were made to windmills and their efficiency increased. Water was drained away from lakes and the Dutch reclaimed their land bit by bit. The Dutch hydraulic engineers are after all termed the best in the world.
We then met the world's heroes, kings, queens, actors, singers and sport stars. The place was loaded with history! Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana, George Bush were some of the exhibits in the first section. Elvis Presley, David Bowle, Jennifer Lopez, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Cluny, Albert Einstein and Picaso were some of the prominent statues. Just outside, Dam square was quite a feast for the eyes. We were surrounded by century old buildings among which the Royal palace and De Bijenkorf were the highlights. A lively place, Dam square is a favourite hangout for tourists and Amsterdammers alike.
Next in line was the science centre Nemo. Shaped like a huge ship and almost an island, it was a place to have great fun and learn stuff. A spark generator, Galileo's experiment, huge bubbles, 2 hours sped by like a breeze and we enjoyed ourselves. The view from the top of the science centre Nemo is termed one of the best views of Amsterdam and it proved to be true. Canals and ancient buildings stretched out and the the skyline was outline against the horizon.
Being in the "Venice of the north", how could we miss the canal trip? We took to the canals of Amsterdam. 'Every' building by the side of the canal which was a house, was 3 stories high, no more, no less and pre-dated the world war! From the old city, new city to the colourful house boats in the canals and motor boats with extra loud boom boxes. It really was Lekker! The one hour in the canals went by in knots like our boat.
Our last destination for the day was the Van Gogh museum. A modern building with largest collection of artworks by the famous Dutch post-Impressionist painter: Vincent Van Gogh, it was one of Amsterdam's top tourist spots. His paintings were thoughtful, colourful and he did tend to focus on peasant themes. My favourite paintings were the : Potatoes and A woman's head, I had a soft spot for him as we lived quite close to where he used to live!
Our Amsterdam trip ended but 2 more months of Europe lay before me. This, after all was the maiden trip!
