Town Houses and Canals

I have taken a step back into the city for today's offering.  Here are a few street scenes from Amsterdam which I hope you will enjoy.

I have always liked the town houses of Amsterdam with their ornate roof lines and large picture windows.

I like the third image today, I think it works well in black and white with the metalwork and i like the way it frames the man on his front steps who was catching up with some paperwork while enjoying the late spring sun.

Amsterdam by Night

Tonight's pictures follow on from yesterday's blog.  I have chosen a number of shots of Amsterdam at night.  The houses, bridges and boats lit up and reflected in the canals provide lots of great photo opportunities. The streets were really quite peaceful and it was lovely walking around and I hope that from the pictures above you can get a feel for this wonderful city.

Magere Brug

Pictures two and three are of probably the most famous, most photographed bridge in Amsterdam, The Magere Brug (Brug is Dutch for bridge) on the Amstel Canal.  it looks really nice at night, all lit up and reflected in the canal.  I will post some night time views at a later date but for now I hope you enjoy these.

Around Town

More from Amsterdam today...

The city is known for many things, one them being the number of bicycles. Just outside of Amsterdam's Central train station there is this massive multi-storey cycle park and just outside that there are thousands of other cycles crammed into a small space.  If you have ever had trouble finding your car in a car park imagine how easy it would be to lose your bike amongst this lot!

With the arrival of spring the city is becoming more colourful as the window boxes and planters on the bridges come to life.  I like the third of today's pictures because it feels fresh and is full of colour.

Many of the bridges have names and I thought the fourth picture was interesting as an example of this.  Seeing this now reminds me of something which happened in Venice. As my son and I were walking across one of the many small canals a couple passed us, the woman said to her partner "I wonder what this bridge is called" to which he testily replied "It's the bridge of wherever the hell we are!!!" We laughed about that and I guess if they had been in Amsterdam they would have always known where they were.

The final picture shows one of the canals at night, with house boats lining each bank and a team of rowers out for some evening exercise, something that I guess you won't see very often.

Amsterdam Life

I have some great pictures from Amsterdam, of canals, bridges and canal houses but for today I wanted to share a few slightly different images of some of the city's inhabitants all of which reflect the character and charm of the place.

The first picture was taken inside the Westerkerk on Prinsengracht (which is the subject of the painting in the top right of the photo).  I am sure it is a wonderful place to work as an artist, the light was great and there was an organ recital providing a super soundtrack.

The seagulls in the second photo appear to have an almost romantic connection with each other which caught my eye and seemed really fitting given the setting.

The cat sunning itself on a bench was also a really fitting image for this relaxed and laid back city.

I hope that you enjoy these pictures as much as I do, feel free to leave a comment below...

The road trip begins

Here is a mixed selection of fairly random images, all taken with the camera on my phone, as all of the images for the next few weeks while I'm traveling round with my eldest son on our European road trip.

The first shot is of the odometer prior to setting off. It's purpose really is to help me work out the overall mileage.  Today I covered 539 miles at an average of 56.4 mpg

The next picture is taken in our stylish hotel room home from home for the next two nights in Amsterdam.

The third is a somewhat abstract shot of a display in a chocolatier's window in Bruges. I deliberately merged the display with the reflection of the tree and buildings to create an interesting image.

The final picture was taken in the underground car park in Bruges as a record so that in my sleep deprived state I could find the car again.

Anyway that's all for today. Keep looking over the next few days for some more random road trip pictures.

Canals and Bridges

A few more shots of Canals and Bridges in Amsterdam.  Although I am going back to Amsterdam in about 10 days and inevitably I will be posting more pictures of the city in the coming months, in the excitement of my preparations for the trip I couldn't resist sharing these.

Amsterdam Streets and Houses

Day two of my Amsterdam pictures and I have chosen some street scenes.  I really like the style of the architecture in Amsterdam and these pictures give a real flavour of the city.

I think if pushed to pick a favourite picture from this small selection I would have to choose between the final two images but I really can't decide.  I'd be interested to know what you think so feel free to comment below...

Bridges of Amsterdam

In a couple of weeks time I will be embarking on a much anticipated European road-trip with my eldest son.  We have been planning it for the past two years and now it is about to start it seems almost unbelievable. We will be visiting some places for the very first time and revisiting some old favourites.  Of course there will be lots of photo opportunities and hopefully lots of things to share in my blog.

The first stop along the way will be Amsterdam.  I have been lucky enough to visit a couple of times before and so I decided to share a few pictures from my last visit.  Today I have chosen some pictures of the canals and bridges (If I remember correctly the first picture is  a street/canal called Singel and the second image shows a stretch of Prinsengracht).  Over the next couple of days I will post a few more shots of the city.