Federica's visiting party, I am on the 30th week! Oh!

NEMO, Amsterdam, April 2008

NEMO is the largest science center in the Netherlands. The architecture is by Renzo Piano. NEMO is located right next to the Amsterdam central station and the Maritime museum.

The Red light district, Amsterdam, April 2008

From brothels to sex shops to museums, the Red Light District leaves nothing to the imagination. It is very likely that you will have heard about this neighbourhood and to be frank, everything you will have heard is probably true , but to really put rumours to rest, you have got to check it out for yourself. The Rossebuurt, as the locals know it, is unlike any other place. Guaranteed. Certainly, the Red Light District that everyone knows about is the one where women, of all nationalities, parade their wares in red-fringed window parlours, many ready to offer more than a school boy peep-show in a private cabin. Another familiar image of the Red Light District is of packs of men, young and old , couples holding hands and pointing in shock of it all, giggling groups of women celebrating a hen night , and busloads of Japanese tourists toting cameras (except not in the direction of the female entertainers! Strictly banned!). This is proof enough that the RLD deserves a visit, if not a little look in.
Some say the origin of the red light comes from the red lanterns carried by railway workers, which were left outside brothels when the workers entered, so that they could be quickly located for any needed train movement. Others speculate that the origin comes from the red paper lanterns that were hung outside brothels in ancient China to identify them as such. It was said that the lights were thought to be sensual. The color red has been associated with prostitution for millennia: in the Biblical story of Rahab, a prostitute in Jericho aided the spies of Joshua and identified her house with a scarlet rope. During World War I there were many brothels in Belgium and France; blue lights were used to indicate brothels for officers, red lights for other ranks. Funny enough!

Amsterdam, flower market, April 2008

The Bloemenmarkt is the world's only floating flower market. Founded in 1862, it is sited in Amsterdam, on Singel between Muntplein and Koningsplein in the city's southern canal belt. It includes 15 florists and garden shops as well as a range of souvenir gifts.








Van Gogh inspiration

Vincent Van Gogh, the best works I liked.

Green ears of weat (Зеленые колосья пщеницы)



Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night (1888)(Терасса кафе на форум плэйс в Арли, ночь)



Sunflowers (Подсолнухи)



Seascape (Морской пейзаж)



Weatfield (Пшеничное поле)

V. Van Gogh museum, Amsterdam, short travel, April 2008

Starry night (Звездная ночь)



Irises (Ирисы)



Blossoming Almond Tree (Цветущее миндальное дерево, 1890)



Weatfield and crows (Пшеничное поле с воронами)


The Van Gogh Museum is the most popular museum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, featuring the works of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries. It has the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world.
The main exhibition chronicles the phases of Van Gogh's life, from his childhood to his various emotional stages through his death. Highlights include "The Potato Eaters" which I didn't like at all, "Bedroom in Arles" (so-so) and one of the three "Sunflowers" paintings with a yellow background.
It is interesting to track how the style and the mood of Van Gogh works change over the time and influenced by different stages of his life. But from all I have seen I prefer his the most colurful works, landscapes and seascapes, flowers and his Japanese period.

Special thing - bicycles in Amsterdam!

Amsterdam is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world and is a centre of bicycle culture with good provision for cyclists such as bike paths and bike racks, which are ubiquitous throughout the city. There are an estimated one million bicycles in the city. However, bike theft is common, so cyclists use large secure locks.
In the city centre, driving a car is discouraged. Parking fees are steep and a great number of streets are closed to cars or are one-way.The local government sponsors carsharing and carpooling initiatives such as Autodelen

Therefore, there ...millions of bicycles in Amsterdam, we questioned ourselves what is bigger the number of bicysles or people who ride them? Look at the pictures above.

Pity, we couldn't use one due to my late pregnancy! we decied to come back altogether three of us sometime when Timur is quiet big to understand the beauty of cycling!

Short trip to Amsterdam, we relax in the evenings, little Timur is 30 weeks old

Guard towers of Amsterdam, Montelbaanstoren

Montelbaanstoren (hard name to spell) is a red brick tower typical to those seen in Amsterdam. While taking the mandatory boat cruise on the canals you can't miss that tower and you might wonder what's it's story. Well, the tower was built back in 1512 purely for defence reasons. It was to protect the Latage, the basin for repairing and storing big Dutch ships. In 1606, Hendrick de Keyser added it's spire (the upper part). Today the tower houses the offices in charge of the closing of canals and water flow in Amsterdam. The funny thing that this tower was called "Crazy Jake" because the tower clock chowned the wrong time and long time masters could do nothing about it.

The cities of Medieval Europe were at constant risk of pillage and plunder, so a number of them surrounded themselves with tall walls in an effort to protect against invaders. Towers were also constructed at strategic locations along the walls where guards would stand on constant lookout for approaching enemies.

One such wall was built around the city of Amsterdam, a popular target for plunder due to its status as one of Europe's wealthiest ship-building and trading ports. Today, only bits and pieces of Amsterdam's wall remain, most notably the Montelbaanstoren tower. The Montelbaanstoren was constructed way back in 1512 beside one of Amsterdam's famous canals, and today she is not only still standing, she is still in service as the city's Water Office.

Amsterdam architecrure

These two house have name "sister twins"







These two buildings are named "fanther and son"





Throughout the year Amsterdam is one of Europe's foremost architecture and design city, not only because of 17-th century rings of canals. Amsterdam is where modern architecture developed organically between facades of historical buildings. Since it is not a very big city, all sites of interest are within acceptable distance, this is why Amsterdam is so popular with lovers of architecture.
The old centre was formed by rings of canals with unique mostly 17th century residences of wealthy merchants, financiers, craftsmen, doctors, lawyers, politicians and artists. Because of lack of space, these houses were mostly narrow, not more than 30ft wide (9 meters). They are are characterized by big narrow windows, decorative gable tops, very narrow stairs inside and pulley outside to transport larger objects to upper floors. Very often the residences served also as businesses. Merchant’s houses had their storage in attics and cellars. Sometimes the lift was installed in the middle of the house plan, to transport the goods between floors. The office of the merchant was usually on the ground floor. Like in Venice the canals were the main way of transporting the goods.

The interesting fact is that all houses and buildings were so nerrow built due to lack of the space so the staircases were so steep that they couldn't fit the dimentions of the furniture or goods moved in and out. In this cases the origianl old Amsterdam houses have a spetial gilder on the "ginger" facade of the building closer to the roof. This gilder surved the held a rope by which the furniture wre lifted up and down the building! Now these gilders are left to be a historical attraction on the houses facing the ring canals of Amsterdam

Amsterdam, Canals

This place is called "9 bridges canal" because sailing over you can see all 9 bridges in the arck of the first one!



This is the nerrowest canal in the city, houses face the water and its width is about 1 meter only!






Much of the Amsterdam canal system is the successful outcome of city planning. In the early part of the 17th century, with immigration at a height, a comprehensive plan was put together, calling for four main, concentric half-circles of canals with their ends resting on de IJ bay. Known as the "grachtengordel", three of the canals are mostly for residential development (Herengracht or ‘’Gentleman's Canal’’; Keizersgracht or ‘’Emperor's Canal’’; and Prinsengracht or ‘’Prince's Canal’’), and a fourth, outer canal, the present Nassau/Stadhouderskade, for purposes of defense and water management. The plan also envisaged interconnecting canals along radii; a set of parallel canals in the Jordaan quarter (primarily for the transportation of goods, for example, beer); the conversion of an existing, inner perimeter canal (Singel) from a defensive purpose to residential and commercial development; and more than one hundred bridges. The defensive purpose of the Nassau/Stadhouderskade was served by moat and earthen dikes, with gates at transit points but otherwise no masonry superstructures.

Construction proceeded from west to east, across the breadth of the lay-out, like a gigantic windshield wiper as the historian Geert Mak calls it – not from the center outwards as a popular myth has it. Construction of the north-western sector was started in 1613. After 1656, with the canals in the southern sector also already finished for some time, building in that sector too was started, although slowly. The eastern part of the concentric canal plan, covering the area between the Amstel river and the IJ bay, was never implemented. In the following centuries, the land went mostly for parks, old age homes, theaters and other public facilities – and for waterways without much plan.

Over the years, several canals have been filled up and are now streets or squares, such as Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal and Spui.

Short trip to Amsterdam, April 2008

National monument with the Hotel Krasnapolsky in the right background, Dam Square, Amsterdam




Dam Square lies in the historical center of Amsterdam, approximately 750 meters south of the main transportation hub, Centraal Station. It is roughly rectangular in shape, stretching about 200 meters from west to east and about 100 meters from north to south. It links the streets Damrak and Rokin, which run along the original course of the Amstel River from Centraal Station to Muntplein (Mint Square) and Munttoren. The Dam also marks the endpoint of other well-traveled streets, Nieuwendijk, Kalverstraat and Damstraat. A short distance beyond the northeast corner lies the main red-light district, de Wallen.

On the west end of the square is the neoclassical Royal Palace, which served as the city hall from 1655 until its conversion to a royal residence in 1808. Beside it are the 15th-century Gothic Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) and the Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. The National Monument, a white stone pillar erected in 1956 to memorialize the victims of World War II, dominates the opposite side of the square. Also overlooking the plaza are the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky and the upscale department store De Bijenkorf. These various attractions have turned the Dam into a tourist zone. The square abounds with city pigeons, popular for birdfeeding.






The first known record of Amsterdam is 27 October 1275, when the inhabitants of a late 12th century fishing village who had built a bridge with a dam across the Amstel were granted freedom by count Floris V from paying a bridge toll .[10] The certificate's wording (homines manentes apud Amestelledamme - people living near Amestelledamme) gives the first known use of the name Amsterdam, which by 1327 had developed into Aemsterdam.[10] A local tradition has the city being founded by two fishermen, who landed on the shores of the Amstel in a small boat with their dog. In any case, Amsterdam's origin is relatively recent in comparison with other Dutch cities such as Nijmegen, Rotterdam and Utrecht.
Amsterdam was given city rights in 1300 or 1301
The 17th century is considered Amsterdam's "Golden Age". In the early 17th century, Amsterdam became one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Ships sailed from Amsterdam to the Baltic Sea, North America, Africa and present-day Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Brazil, and formed the basis of a worldwide trading network. Amsterdam's merchants had the biggest share in the VOC and WIC. These companies acquired the overseas possessions which formed the seeds of the later Dutch colonies. Amsterdam was the most important point for the trans-shipment of goods in Europe, and it was the leading financial centre of the world. Amsterdam's stock exchange was the first to trade continuously.

The 18th and early 19th centuries saw a decline in Amsterdam's prosperity. The wars of the Dutch Republic with England (see Anglo-Dutch Wars) and France took their toll on Amsterdam. During the Napoleonic Wars, Amsterdam's fortunes reached their lowest point. However, with the establishment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, things slowly began to improve. In Amsterdam new developments were started by people like city planner Samuel Sarphati, who found their inspiration in Paris