ONE AMSTERDAM CANAL – FIVE SHOTS

I was rather pleased with this early morning shot.

The balcony is our favourite part of our apartment, overlooking the Schinkel, Amsterdam’s busy working canal.

Taking the photo above reminded me of how extraordinarily different the Schinkel looks depending on the time of day, the season, the activity and the light.

TROUBLE AT BRIDGE – Amsterdam

Mind the gap! A steady hand on the tiller was needed to steer this French cruise boat down the Schinkel.

A constant source of free entertainment is available from our Amsterdam balcony as we watch the bridge on the Overtoomsesluis open, stopping road traffic to let the boats pass.

The Schinkel, the canal below us, is the busiest working canal in Amsterdam. On weekdays there is a regular parade of barges, ferrying sand dredged from the harbour to places inland where it is more useful for building and land reclamation.

It’s only a few metres deep, and generally calm and flat, but oh, there are some impressive feats of helmsmanship on show. And there’s always something going on down there.

AMSTERDAM – back home on the Schinkel

If you’re lucky enough to have wifi access from the cafe across the road, you can work in the outdoor office.

It’s nice to be ‘home’ in Amsterdam, at least for a little while. Followers of this blog may have noticed that Mevrouw T and I have been getting out and about rather a lot recently.

‘When are you going to spend some time in Amsterdam?’ Dutch friends and neighbours are asking. ‘Aren’t we interesting enough for you?’

We came back this week and Mevrouw T found an article in a Dutch newspaper featuring the history and present-day delights of our part of town, the Schinkelbuurt. The writer made it sound very interesting indeed, so I took the camera out for a walk, then googled the Schinkel to see what we’d been missing.

DE SCHINKEL – Amsterdam’s most entertaining canal

It isn't always as quiet as this on the Schinkel.

There was a blanket of fog this morning on the Schinkel, the canal which passes below our balcony.

Its changing moods are a constant source of enjoyment to us, as we watch the various forms of water transport doing their various things.