Another georgous picture of the Amsterdam train station (with snow flakes). I love the Leipzig train station, but this one takes the cake externally. I love the inside of the Leipzig train station, but this one is so pretty!!!
I loved this stair case! We went to the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, it is in the red light district, and now surrounded by women in windows and coffee shops. They wern't pretty women in windows either. Kelly and I were a bit taken back by the view. They also had a crazy art show/display going on in the church. Definitely a wierd atmosphere. Not my favorite.
I did like this grave inside the church though. Rembrandt's wife, Saskia, is burried in this church as well, but due to renovations, we couldn't see her stone. A bunch of Amsterdam seems to be under rennovation.
Kelly bought a book about Amsterdam online and in it it has great walking tours, which is what we did today. It took us all over the older part of the city, and has step by step of where to go and what you will see. There are several options and we did the Old Center tour today. We plan on going back and doing another one tomorrow. We also realized that the lawyer's office we went to tomorrow is in a prime location. NOV must be paying big bucks....they are located on the Times Square of Amsterdam. Impressive. In the above picture, I just really liked all of the buildings. The Dutch architecture is so pretty and quaint!
More neat buildings along the canal. This is the beginning of the red light district and by our Museum Amstelkring. Maybe when the weather is better, we eneded up getting snowed on today, we will do a canal boat tour.
This is the Huis aan de Drei Grachten (House on 3 canals). It is Dutch Renaissance style with the wooden shutters dating back to 1609.
This is a house in Begijnhof which was originally a cloister for devoute women in the 14th century. These women were devout catholics who didn't want to join a convent, but wanted to be faithful. When the Protestants took over in Amsterdam back in the 1600's they ignored the area primarily because it was so private and mainly women. They had their own church, which was eventually converted to Protestant Reform so then the women must rely on house churches. To this day, the community is larger, but it is still only rented out to women. The above house is the oldest house in Amsterdam (built 1425)and one of two timber houses that still remain. The rest were burnt down in the great fire. Amsterdam had 2 big fires. The first was in 1421, and the second was in 1452 where 3/4 of the city burnt down.
This is a picture of the court yard in the Begijnhof. All of those houses is where women live today. There were little bars that said "For Residents Only." I would live in the area!!
This is the chapel in Museum Amstelkring. It is a hidden chapel in the attic of 3 canal houses that were purchased by a weathly merchant. The church was constructed in 1661-1663. It served as a Catholic church during the time when the Protestants outlawed catholicism in 1578. It is still, more or less, in its original state. The government officials turned a blind eye on the house churches as long as they were not recognisable on the outside. The church was in use until 1887 until its successor Great St. Nicolas Church was opened. A group of people banned together to save it and they helped gather artifacts for the display there. Since 1888 the church and house banned together to form the musuem that it is today. It is still used at Christmas, for weddings, and the first Sunday of the month in the winter.
This is another one of the rooms in the hidden church. It is referred to as Our Lord in the Attic, but initially known as "Het Hart" (The Heart), most likely after the merchant, Jan Hartman, who had built it.
This was the fire place in the Parlour, which was the best room in the house. It is the room where the Hartmans entertained their guests. The room has been refurbished to appear much like it would have during the 1660s, in Dutch classicm.
This was the room where Jan Hartman and his wife lived. The cabinet was painted by Frans Francken II with scenes from the New Testament parable of the Prodigal Son.
This was the 19th century kitchen that was built in 1888 in the middle of the house and is not as antiquated as it looks. The kitchen looks old because of the historical materials that were used to build it that were salvaged from demolished buildings in the neighborhood.
This is the view from one of the windows upstairs in the chapel area. One side of the building had views of the Oude Kerk (seen here) and on the other side you could see St Nicolas's Church. The other side was closed for renovations, as was many parts of the house, so that picture is not available. Many of the artifacts and paintings where also put away due to the restoration which was slightly dissapointing.
More neat buildings along the canal. This is the beginning of the red light district and by our Museum Amstelkring. Maybe when the weather is better, we eneded up getting snowed on today, we will do a canal boat tour.
This is the Huis aan de Drei Grachten (House on 3 canals). It is Dutch Renaissance style with the wooden shutters dating back to 1609.
This is a house in Begijnhof which was originally a cloister for devoute women in the 14th century. These women were devout catholics who didn't want to join a convent, but wanted to be faithful. When the Protestants took over in Amsterdam back in the 1600's they ignored the area primarily because it was so private and mainly women. They had their own church, which was eventually converted to Protestant Reform so then the women must rely on house churches. To this day, the community is larger, but it is still only rented out to women. The above house is the oldest house in Amsterdam (built 1425)and one of two timber houses that still remain. The rest were burnt down in the great fire. Amsterdam had 2 big fires. The first was in 1421, and the second was in 1452 where 3/4 of the city burnt down.
This is a picture of the court yard in the Begijnhof. All of those houses is where women live today. There were little bars that said "For Residents Only." I would live in the area!!
This is the chapel in Museum Amstelkring. It is a hidden chapel in the attic of 3 canal houses that were purchased by a weathly merchant. The church was constructed in 1661-1663. It served as a Catholic church during the time when the Protestants outlawed catholicism in 1578. It is still, more or less, in its original state. The government officials turned a blind eye on the house churches as long as they were not recognisable on the outside. The church was in use until 1887 until its successor Great St. Nicolas Church was opened. A group of people banned together to save it and they helped gather artifacts for the display there. Since 1888 the church and house banned together to form the musuem that it is today. It is still used at Christmas, for weddings, and the first Sunday of the month in the winter. 
This is another one of the rooms in the hidden church. It is referred to as Our Lord in the Attic, but initially known as "Het Hart" (The Heart), most likely after the merchant, Jan Hartman, who had built it.
This was the fire place in the Parlour, which was the best room in the house. It is the room where the Hartmans entertained their guests. The room has been refurbished to appear much like it would have during the 1660s, in Dutch classicm.
This was the room where Jan Hartman and his wife lived. The cabinet was painted by Frans Francken II with scenes from the New Testament parable of the Prodigal Son.
This was the 19th century kitchen that was built in 1888 in the middle of the house and is not as antiquated as it looks. The kitchen looks old because of the historical materials that were used to build it that were salvaged from demolished buildings in the neighborhood. 
This is the view from one of the windows upstairs in the chapel area. One side of the building had views of the Oude Kerk (seen here) and on the other side you could see St Nicolas's Church. The other side was closed for renovations, as was many parts of the house, so that picture is not available. Many of the artifacts and paintings where also put away due to the restoration which was slightly dissapointing. During all of this walking Kelly and I got hungry so we stopped at one of 500+ Argentianian steak houses around the city. Those people know how to cook a steak! It was great!! After a bit more walking, we got back into the Dam Square where all the action, and people, were. It was so crowded! I'm glad we started out early because we didn't have any crowds anywhere up until then. We had a slice of cake at Cafe Luna which was a treat. We made our way to the square and decided we wanted to take a tour of our future home, the Royal Palace of Amsterdam.
The exterior of the Palace was all covered in scaffolding due to more restoration...but the little model inside made the exterior look amazing! It is one of 3 locations that the Queen has at her disposal for use. She chooses to live in Den Haag, but uses this palace for official state functions such as state visits, the Queen's New Years party and provides the setting for royal announcements and prizes. A history of the palace can be read here.
The real beauty of this place was its use of chandeliers. They had them in EVERY room along with lining the hallways and in foyers. I was ready to move in! Here is a picture of the BEST chandelier in the place. We wern't allowed to take pictures there, or else this posting would be 2x as long. I was taking notes for my future house. The Dutch know how to do chandeliers! The even have them in lights on the streets. It's beautiful!
I am tired and believe it is my bed time. I need to rest up for another day of walking tours tomorrow! I don't think the weather is going to be any better though. Maybe we'll get lucky!
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