Visiting Amsterdam has got to be on your bucket list - at least once. One of my favourite cities anywhere. What a beautiful city. A fascinating city. A very romantic city. A quirky city. It literally has it all - and our quick break was greeted with 38 degrees sunshine too. So, a hot city too. Amsterdam's name is derived from the city's origins: it grew around a dam on the river Amstel. Cross hatched canals mean it's an explorers delight. Simply walking around and seeing what is around the next corner cannot disappoint.
From the water's eye
A boat trip is a must. It offers you a glimpse with a different lense and perspective.
Canals from the bridges
Each bridge you stop at offers something new; each with it's own personality. Watching others around, taking in the atmosphere you can see why many artists have been inspired. It's easy to escape your mind here, and wish you had one of the flats overlooking the canals. But at up to 9 million Euros, not yet!
Looking at the buildings you can see they lean side to side. Wooden piles hold up the buildings here as they were built on wet land. Over time, the piles have sunk and moved. They prop each other up, as if coming home late from the pub.
It's people
Like many places, it is lovely to people watch. Some just love to sit outside the cafes with herbal remedies and see their very own world go by. It is a family place you know.
Bikes
This place has definitely got it sussed. Bikes everywhere- I mean everywhere. Cycle routes everywhere - the arteries of the city. They even have multi storey bike parks in the centre. 50,000 of these bikes end up in the canals each year due to the over excited tourists feeding themselves too much on Amstel or Heineken (or other things).
A quirky side
You all know this side of Amsterdam. And these were the censored pics! During the day, you could see the children holding their parent's hands saying "Mummy, what's that?"
Art and Architecture
The buildings fascinated me as much as what was inside or what it was used for....just brilliant.
Home to amazing artists of all kinds. As our visit was not that long, we opted for The Van Gogh museum only. It dedicates itself to Van Gogh and those who he inspired, or was inspired by. He must have churned his paintings out at an incredible rate over his short span before an all too young and tragic end.
Sometimes the moment happens right in front of you. I was standing looking at this art work, when this toddle nuzzled through everyone and just sat on the chair in front and looked, transfixed. And if you look closely, it's the type of chair Van Gogh painted. It's as if it was meant to be.
The leaning building here lunges forward so the pulley on the top can rope larger objects from the street to high up as the stairs are too narrow inside. 
Eran Shaline's "A Muslim, A Christian and a Jew"
House Church
Hidden in the top three floors of some of the town houses, Catholics (back in the day), constructed their churches so they would not be seen worshiping. As with so much of Amsterdam, looking beneath the surface reveals truly amazing stories.
This featured blog entry was written by PhilFhi travels from the blog PhilFhi's Overseas Adventure.
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