Wandering around Amsterdam

For the first weekend in a while I had some time to chill in Amsterdam, so I took the chance to wander around and see some of the sites and areas of the city I hadn't seen. It ended up being a really nice, clear day, even though it was a little cold.

the usual canals, houses and houseboats

and some crooked houses...

ATL!

And of course, like in any European city, I found some more cool towers and churches.

Munttoren, used to be part of the old city gate

Zuiderkerk

Sint Anthonispoort (Saint Anthony's Port), another of the former city's gates, which now has a restaurant in it

There are also a ton of lights which are hung over various streets throughout the city. I think it's just a winter thing, and some of them were clearly Christmas related, but maybe some of them stay up year round?

Kinda cool. Also, as I was getting back to my apartment I saw a huge blaze at the end of my block. The first thought was that part of my block was on fire, which was a little terrifying, but it turned out to be something like a big neighborhood bonfire. I guess every year they take all of the Christmas trees from all of the houses, and instead of recycling them into woodchips or something they just set them on fire and bring their kids to watch the show. Whatever floats your boat...

Oh, and one more addition to my list of things people do on their bikes... pulling their luggage.