Amsterdam: Maritime Museum and Walking Around

This is our last day in Amsterdam so we have decided to walk to the Maritime Museum and then to amble back to our hotel.

But first a leisurely breakfast at our hotel, the American. This is a wonderful art deco hotel that as part of it's history was Gestapo headquarters during the WWII occupation.

Now let's begin our walk to the Museum...

Amsterdam has a parking problem - because there are so many bikes. Hence there are now floating Parking Stations for them.

We're now at the Maritime Museum along with a replica of a sailing ship that would have been used to bring spices from Batavia and other exotic ports in the colonies.

 The Museum building that houses maps, paintings, crockery, books etc - basically, any and everything maritime.

As two weeks ago the Benn family celebrated the arrival of the first Benn's to Australia 150 years ago, it was a timely and interesting reminder for me to be on a sailing ship with its cramped quarters, low decks and altogether very difficult living conditions. Our pioneering predecesors didn't have an easy time of it!

Here's a range of figureheads used on the bow of some famous Dutch sailing ships...

Amongst the memorabilia was this photo of "crossing the line" circa 1927. I suspect from the smile on the man's face being in drag wasn't too difficult for him to enjoy.

The Museum was not too far from the heart of old Amsterdam city

Just after crossing a busy street we saw a man enter a little guard box - and the next thing the road was closed, the bridge raised, and the boat went through. All this and only about 3 minutes maximum of traffic disruption.

We saw many examples of children being transported on bicycles - this is just one of them.

Genuine flea markets are still to be found here with lots of bric-a-brac stalls along with piles of used clothing to browse through. We understand that because the clothing might not have been washed that when you bought a article of clothing so it was you often got more than just a bargain, you also got fleas. 

And should you wish to stay on a boat on a canal, then this gay run B&B might just be right for you. It's on the famous Amstel Canal.

The canals are always teeming with life from the frequent canal cruise tourist boats to many individuals. Here's a young lad doing it the easy way!

If you need to doing some retail therapy here's a really swish department store for you

The banking firm ING was the main sponsor of the Amsterdam Pride weekend, so there is still evidence of their support with the decorating of their ATM machines

We didn't eat here, but we loved the name

Our few days in Amsterdam are now at an end. It's time to catch the train to Paris. I was going to say the fast train, but that only happens in France whereas speeds in the Netherlands and Belgium are at near normal train speeds. See you in Paris in just 4.25 hours where we'll visit a much more famous train...