There were only 4 of us + the Captain, Fokko, on the boat.
Today is our busier day, with things scheduled/reserved.
We took a morning boat tour of the canals. There were just six of us on a smaller boat, captained by Fokko. I’m glad we did this instead of one of the bigger tour boats. We meandered through several canals, learning the history of Amsterdam, its unique architecture, and how the city’s geography survives at 2m below sea level.
I’m especially intrigued at how the buildings sag and sink; Fokko said that there’s a city ordinance that you cannot modify the front facades when renovating/improving buildings.
We really lucked out booking this tour — our neighbor recommended this smaller company, and the pick up point was about 400m from our AirBnB! The humidity here is doing a number on my hair.
Fokko, our Captain, feeding the swans.
This bridge is called the “Magere Brug” (Skinny Bridge) over the Amstel River. It can be seen in the James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever. Today it’s a bike and pedestrian bridge, and there are chains that can be pulled by bikers or pedestrians to allow boats to cross.
The leaning…the sagging…you can renovate the houses all you want inside, but per city ordinance, the front facades are required to remain as-is.
