Today's Dam Walking Tour

Beautiful canal home. The sun is shining on the brick, but it's black and I loved the contrast with the red flowers.

One of the many beautiful canals in Amsterdam.

One of the stalls at Noordermarkt. Spools and spools of ribbon.

Today I consider my first REAL day in Amsterdam. The other days were a blur due to jetlag and then I was in Oslo. Since it's Monday, nothing really opens until 13:00. Yes, I even set my iPhone to read in military time for the full immersion effect and totally digging it. Amsterdam is definitely NOT a city of convenience. For example, the train station, grocery store, take out food places, most shops and most cafes do not except credit card. The sun was shining today and I decided to look through my many guide books and picked out a walking tour of Jordaan, a really cute neighborhood here. First stop, Noordermarkt, a outdoor market that sells lots of stuff like furniture, clothes, jewelry, fabric, bike locks. It's huge so I spent a lot of time just perusing the stalls. It was nice following the book, as it was like having a conversation with the city, pointing out things I would never have known if I were to aimlessly walk around. It was a successful morning and then a trip to the grocery store to stock my little kitchenette.