Amsterdam Canal Cruise

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

Yet another Amsterdam related post. huhu...There's just so many things that we did and experienced, one post just won't do.

So on our last day, we decided to go for the canal cruise at the city centre. So again, we went to the P&R to park our car and take the tram to the city. This is the easiest and cheapest way to go to the city if you are driving. Plus as I said on previous post, this way, they could prevent a lot of tourist cars coming in to the city centre. A great way to avoid congestion.

So we took a tram to the central station.

There are a lot of boat companies that provide the cruise along the canal. The nearest ticket booth is just in front of the Amsterdan Central Station.

We bought the canal cruise tickets that cost €16 each. There are many types of cruises to choose from. Small boats cruise is only open from May onward because in April, the weather will still be a bit cold. Not mentioning in winter, obviously. There's also small boat that you can hire and be your own captain. It's kind of like the swans that you use on lakes. You can just google for more info or just ask the staff at the ticket counter.

We need to take our boat at a different location because the jetty is located elsewhere. It's not far, just 2 minutes walk or so. As we arrived at the jetty, so does our boat.

This is a hop on-hop off boat. Just like the bus.

There weren't a lot of people as we board, but the rest kept coming later on. My bestie and I chose to seat on the outer part of the boat (the back) because it's slightly more open.

We saw a lot of interesting building.

A floating chinese restaurant in Amsterdam? huhu...you can find one near canary wharf, London too. Looks just like this one.

Hey look! I found NEMO. hehe..

I don't know whether this is a building or not, but it's not in a right position isn't it? 

A huge opera house.

We saw this building that is actually crooked. But you can't really see from this angle.

I just love the scenery in Amsterdam. Gorgeous!!

Some history lesson. During the 70s century, the population in Amsterdam has become so high and dense, they ran out of space to live in. So, in order to occupy and accommodate the increase in population, the houses were built narrow and high, with a triangular shaped top. That is why, you can see a lot of the houses along the canal is built in this way. It has become one of the trademark in Amsterdam.

You can also see a lot of these boat houses along the canal. Some of them are really beautiful and seemed so nice to be lived in.

They even have canal signs? Due to water transportation is heavily used in Amsterdam i guess.

The canal cruise took about 90 minutes. 

You can see multiple storey carparks anywhere, but have you ever seen a multi-storey bicycle parking?

After the cruise, my friends wanted to go see the red light district (RLD). It's located near the church that you can see in the picture. The RLD or The Rossebuurt as the locals call it is famous for it's parade of women from all nationalities that will offer more than a school boy peep-show in a private cabin. I didn't want to go there, because well frankly, why would you want to anyway? I don't want to condone such action and make it acceptable. So my bestie and I just decided to go and look for food. It's a good thing her ankle is still aching, I can use that as an excuse. 

Here in Amsterdam, they are not shy to parade drugs and sex. It's merely entertainment for them. There's even a sex museum located along the streets. God knows what's in there. I even feel ashamed to look at the sign, let alone to take pictures with it (which a lot of people do).

However, you can still find a lot of halal food in the area. Weird much? So we chose one to have lunch at. 

It was decent enough. The chicken platter for 9 euros plus and the pizza for 7.50 euros. The pizza is too plain and simple though. 

There's a fries shop nearby that says they sell the best fries (or frites as they call it) in Netherlands. The queue was crazy long. Only my 2 friends bought the fries and we shared.

After being satisfied, we decided to get a move on to Brussels.

I told you I have a decent picture of this place. Better than before.

Until next time...