Amsterdam

The Canals of Amsterdam

Amsterdam in the 16^th century was the richest city in the world, due to the Dutch East India company shipping spices to all of Europe. It also became a protestant stronghold because Catholic Spain controlled most of Belgium and the Netherlands and gave people a choice: convert or move to Amsterdam. We toured Amsterdam on the canals in the rain. The legend here is that God created the world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands. Sixty percent of the country is less than a meter above sea level because of damming the sea and pumping out the water with windmills. As we toured the canals we saw many houseboats or buildings on the water. Amsterdam has over 2500 houseboats. The houses here are narrow since taxes were based on your frontage on the canal. Each also has a beam to hoist up furniture from the canal. Most homes have lots of windows with no shades to declare in Calvinist tradition: “see I'm not rich".

Narrow house with large windows and hoists

In the afternoon we took the ferry across the harbor to where ships used to be built. Now it is an artisan district. While we saw several interesting murals. It was a bust.

Ann Frank Mural

A few of us went to the maritime museum. The most interesting exhibit was their rebuilt merchant ship. It was surprisingly large with lots of storage in the hold, several cannon for protection, and room for 200 men, sleeping in shifts. The officers and merchant had private rooms and a sheltered dining room, the crew ate on the forecastle. The highlight of the ship was a virtual reality viewing of 16^th century Amsterdam including the ship building docks. We only had time for a few other exhibits  but the ship models and maps were interesting.

Crew quarters in the Amsterdam