Lovelocks on a bridge in Amsterdam, a feature of many cities around the world- lovers engharve their names and add the padlock to the many others here
‘Lovelock Bridge’ looking along one of the fine canals

I couldn’t resist sharing some pictures I took on my recent trip to Amsterdam. Wandering the roads and taking a canal boat ride offered many opportunities to capture the beauty of this City’s distinctive architecture, canals and other features – especially in the low autumn sunshine that accompanied us. First the canals….

Next the cycles….

Finally, those ‘Coffee Shops’ that aren’t really that at all. Not to be confused with cafés, they have been a part of Amsterdam since the 1970s, when the Dutch government made a clear distinction in the law between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ drugs. Coffee shops have always existed in a legal grey area. They are allowed to operate with a set, non-transferable licence (shown by the display of an official, green and white sticker in the window). There are about 200 in Amsterdam, and most have a ‘menu’ of soft drugs for sale, but they are not allowed to sell alcohol! Then there are the fully legal ‘Smart Shops’, which sell herbal i.e. smart drugs, named because they are supposed to stimulate the mind and improve memory. They also sell magic mushrooms. In recent years there has been an explosion of smart shops in Amsterdam, many shops are selling mushrooms, vitamins, weed seeds, grown kits, pipes and various souvenirs and arts.

Inside a coffee shop- not guilty !
A coffee shop licence
Tolerance and intolerance…
A real Coffee Shop….sorry Cafe

Oh, and a bonus of a few odd pictures around and inside the Rijksmuseum- guess what the crowd are looking at?……………….. Rembrandt’s masterpiece ‘The Nightwatch’.

Old School Gardener