Amsterdam | glass roof cruise and diamonds

Covering 5 countries in 9 days 6 nights, it was a wonderful summer holiday and we brought home all those sweet memories and experiences of London, France, Belgium, Germany and Netherlands.

It rained on the last day of our Europe holiday in Amsterdam. But then again, we experienced rain while in Bruges. The wettest got to be on our last day in Amsterdam. Cold and windy, trust me when I said the wind could blow you away.

Rain or no rain, we had to proceed with our itinerary.

First stop was the diamond store tour in Gassan Diamonds. I were blinded by all the sparkles. No, I did not buy any home.

Next was the river cruise. Amsterdam's houses and shops were tall and narrow in the front. They had wide windows and in almost every buildings, you will notice a hook hanging on the roof. That was how they moved their furniture into the houses or shops. Hanging and moving through the windows.

Amsterdam is mostly made of canals. And another fact about Netherlands is there is no mountains in this small and low land country! It is basically a flat and low land covered in water. And they generally experiencing strong wind all year round so you would spotted some wind blockers along the highway.

And that was how the Dutch invented windmills with the help of winds in their daily chores etc.

Amsterdam | the Dam Square

Every countries have their own squares. Such as Paris has Concorde Square and so is Amsterdam with its Dam Square. The royal palace and museum were located there. There was a Madame Tussaud building there but we did not go in. 

We spent less than 30 minutes in the Dam Square. Just took few shots and filled up our tummies with snacks from the hot dog stalls.

Pigeons everywhere!!

Cobbled walkway

Madame Tussaud

The palace

History museum

A monument

Amsterdam | windmills and clogs

On our last day in Amsterdam, we visited the Dutch village, Zaanse Schans. About 30 minutes bus ride from Amsterdam. The weather was cold and windy and the rain had just stopped. It was good that we could see the windmills at work.

Actually around Amsterdam we could see huge wind turbines along the way. You could see wind turbines everywhere.

The rustic charm of countryside where we could find the well preserved windmills from 18th and 19th centuries are still working and spinning with the wind. The historical Dutch houses were simply charming. In Zaanse Schans, I felt I went back in time and everything was like how it was back in the olden days.

The village may be a hot tourist attraction but most of the establishments are privately owned. So respect of privacy must be practised. Few windmills were opened up for publics to view. We were lucky to view a mustard-making windmill that day. Of course we got to buy one bottle of mustard home.

The windmills was picturesque by themselves; I simply fell in love with them.

Other than the windmills, we were treated to clogs-making tour as well as cheese tasting. We went for the clogs shop but did not stop at the cheese shop since we still have few cheese blocks that hubby bought back in March.