Amsterdam....Bicycles, bicycles everywhere!

Today was cleaning day in the apartment, they come once a week to clean. So, I thought I'd make myself scarce for a good part of the day and go exploring! The weather was perfect for that, sunny with some clouds. My plan was to get to Utrechtstraat in Amsterdam where I had read there are some nice shops and restaurants. So, I took the #5 Tram towards Central Station and got off at Leidseplein. As I was walking I saw bicycles everywhere!  Here are some pictures:

The owner of this one is brave-2 child seats and a basket on the front!

From the Leidesplein stop I thought I'd just walk around and see what I found! Here are some pictures I took along my walk:

The Bloemenmarkt (flower market) is a series of permanently moored barges that contain flowers from all over the world!  Here are some pictures from the canal and from the street side:

After walking several blocks more, I found Utrechtsestraat!

This, believe it or not, is a block of cheese (kaas)!!!

This tree is in the window of a chocolate shop-it's decorated with chocolate candies!

This is in the window of one of the many bakkerijen (bakeries) in Amsterdam-sooo beautiful!

I went inside the "Kom" store where they sell home goods and bought a few gifts!  It's a very nice store and the woman working there was very helpful! While she was wrapping the gifts, she sneezed and I said Gesundheit (the German pronunciation, which is how we pronounced it in Minnesota when I was growing up). I asked her how to say "God Bless you" in Dutch, and she said Gezondheid making the "gargling" sound  for the "G" in the Dutch language (I'm working on that!). The Dutch language seems to be close to English and German.

By this time, I was hungry. So, I decided to walk along Ultrechtsestraat till I found something interesting-and look at what I found!!! It was such a beautiful display of sandwiches....I chose a seafood sandwich, and I splurged and had a small cup of black coffee. It was delicious!

On I walked.......I found a shop called Dekunstboer on Vijzelstraat where they sell cute children's clothing. The woman there was telling me she just moved to Haarlem six months ago from the UK, and she loves it! She has a shop in Haarlem also on Gierstraat, I will try to stop by sometime this week.....

And then I walked some more....

Yes, this is a "Coffeeshop" where people go to smoke pot!

Back to Museumplein where I caught Tram #5 back to the apartment!

Ahhhhh......and now for a cup of tea and some stroopwafels!