Amsterdam is a city small enough to allow one to walk to most of the city tourist attractions. The hotel where pakdokter and company were booked into was at most only 30 minutes on foot from the Central Station. From the hotel, the Royal Palace and the Wax Museum are an easy 5 minutes walk, so is the main shopping street of the city. The museums are also within walking distance, or else the city tram service can be used for a small fare. And within 10 minutes walk, is the Jordaan district where many restaurants and boutiques are to be found.
Pakdokter and company decided to visit the markets of Amsterdam on the first day of our stay there. The flower market was about 15 minutes away on foot. Most stalls were selling plants and flowers for the Christmas festivities. One can also buy ganja seedlings at this market - Amsterdam is probably the only city in the world where 'ganja' is not an illegal substance for recreational or medicinal consumption. There is a "Hemp and Hashish" Museum located in this city.
Walking the streets of Amsterdam also allowed us to discover many objects of 'street art' on display at street corners. Many of these were brass and steel sculptures. Below are some of the street sculptures pakdokter discovered during the walk.
A weekly Saturday Market was also being held that morning not too far away from the Flower Market. Everything from textiles to clothes to fashion to shoes to fish and seafood to farm products to cakes and cookies were on sale at this market. This market is not unlike the many 'pasar malam' in Kuala Lumpur....
giant crabs and fresh fish made us want to look for a seafood restaurant for lunch...
varieties of cheese....
chocolates in 'erotic' shapes and forms....
Santa Claus already in town....
On Sunday morning we walked to the Amsterdam Sunday Art Market located at the top end of Spuiistraat which was just a round the corner from our hotel. As it was pouring rain quite heavily that morning with strong wind to boot, many of the stalls opened late and we found ourselves wandering into the shops and malls along the Kalverstraat instead.
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