Normally if your home is designated a World Heritage site, you’re either dead, mummified, falling down or being dug up. Thankfully for us, Amsterdam is one of the exceptions ….

(apart from maybe the falling down bit)

Our adopted home is a beautiful, living history lesson – Geoff’s flat was actually designated as a monument house! The cyclist is king and even something as mundane as the ride to work takes you past works of great art and architecture at every turn.

Amsterdam is steeped is stories of adventure, discovery, invention, art, science and commerce; and that industry, inventiveness and engineering brilliance is still relevant today. It is also a place of contradiction, where pot is legalized and prostitution unionized, but Calvinistic restraint is equally on show.

There are millions of photographs of Amsterdam on-line that you can check out, these are just a few of our favourite places – especially Vondel Park, in the heart of the city where we often would just “take a turn around the park” for the sheer pleasure of the ride.

Tree lined canal in AmsterdamEarly morning mist in Vondel ParkVondel Park bee keeperThe Rijksmuseum in the snowDogs meeting in Vondel ParkThe band stand in Vondel ParkThe pesky green parakeets of Vondel ParkSpring tulips in AmsterdamWhite swan and duckWesterkerk Amsterdam perennials - bikes and tulipsNight time canal pictureClassic canal view Geoff cruising the canals