Amsterdam

Netherlands 2011
Picture 01 Amsterdam Centraal Station, impressive Neo-Renaissance building, opened to public in 1889.
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Picture 02
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Picture 03 World's first bicycle building of 3 slightly sloping parking decks next to Centraal Station - over 880K bicycles in Amsterdam city, approx 780K residents.
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Picture 04 Amsterdam - where modern architecture developed between facades of historical buildings.
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Picture 05 The number of canals have led Amsterdam to become known as the Venice of the North - glass top boats for canal cruise tour.
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Picture 06 Began in the 13th century as a fishing village on a river bed, with the construction of the North Sea Canal in 1876, Amsterdam finally had a direct connection...
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Picture 07 Canny Amsterdammers began exacting toll money from the passing beer and herring traders of the roaring Eastern Sea Trade of the Baltics.
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Picture 08 Amsterdammers quickly became expert boat builders and brewers.
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Picture 09 Some Amsterdam numbers - 165 canals total length of 100km, 1281 bridges, 2500 houseboats, 8863 buildings built in the 16th-18th centuries...
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Picture 10 NEMO Science Centre, where the IJ tunnel starts, building looks like the prow of a submerged ship looming out of the water.
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Picture 11 Building exterior is clad with copper.
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Picture 12 One of Amsterdam's 1280 or so bridges.
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Picture 13 Magere Brug, or Skinny Bridge is the most famous - a traditional double-leaf drawbridge connecting the banks of the river Amstel.
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Picture 14 The original Magere Brug was built in 1670.
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Picture 15 The 17th century urban development project that became the Canal Ring - a strand of elegant mansions and gardens encircling Amsterdam's medieval center.
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Picture 16 Damrak, north-south street, located on a rak (reach), a straight part of the Amstel river near a dam; hence the name Damrak.
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Picture 17 Beurs van Berlage, building on the Damrak, designed as a commodity exchange and constructed between 1896 and 1903, now serves as a concert and exhibition hall.
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Picture 18 Upscale department store De Bijenkorf on Damrak-Dam Square since 1914.. with Christmas decorations on December 23, 2012.
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Picture 19 The Dam, built in approximately 1270, formed the first connection between the settlements on the sides of the river (a dam on Amstel River).
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Picture 20 Dam Square, originally two squares - the actual dam called Middeldam, and Plaetse, an adjacent plaza to the west.
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