Netherlands (Holland) Europe

Amsterdam, the Dutch capital

I first visited Amsterdam in 1983 starting my move to Europe. On the plane I met a woman living in a large house community who mentioned they had hosted another street-performing American juggler in recent years. She invited me to stay there but other residents had gotten feed up with the other juggler who they said hung around and played piano the whole day and didn’t contribute anything towards room or food despite making good money on the street. I went to a hostel and tried my own luck performing on the Leidseplein but got little money despite large crowds. The truth was that I had limited props, hardly an appropriate costume and didn’t have the experience yet to manage difficult audiences yet in such a setting. Over the coming years I was in Amsterdam a few more times for short stays usually staying at a squated house where much of the local juggling community and street performers lived.

The following photos are from May 2025 when my wife and I spent 3 days there on vacation. I didn’t perfom but of course checked out the local street scene. A starting point was the central train station which is at the waterfront along the north edge of the historical center. Our last day in Amsterdam in 2025, there was a demonstration for Gaza that ended up in the main station. On the northside are ferries to North Amsterdam, to the south one sees a large public transportation office, many tour boats, the Basilica of St. Nicholas and the beginning of Damrack, a main street leading to the central Dam Square.

Amsterdam Dam Square

Dam Sqaure is a central point of the historial center. On one side is the Koninlijk Paleis or King’s Palace, next to it the Nieuwe Kerk or New Church. To the south one sees the Madam Tussaud wax museum and to teh east teh National Monument and the large 5 star Krasnapolsky Hotel.  The sqaure has always been one of the main venues for street perfomers and apparenly the main one in recent times for large circle shows although demonstrations are a common disruption. Around the sqaure are examples of uniquely Dutch cheese shops or ones for “stroopwafel” cookies. 

Amsterdam Leideseplein

One of Amsterdam’s most popular areas for bars, restaurants and souvenir shops is surrounding the plaza known as Leidseplein. Rather small and nothing special about the space itself, it is surrounded by canals, hotels and close to the large Vondel Park and the many museums clustered around the Museumplein. Next to Leidseplein is the International Theater and next to that the iconic Americain cafe and bar. Also nearby are some interesting sculptures, one a set of 4 meter high arms and around the corner a grassy patch with a dozen or two metal lizards. Decades ago Leidseplein was also the major venue for doing large street shows for jugglers, magicians and clowns. In 2025 I saw a breakdancer there but the main place to perform seemed to have shifted to Dam Square. One of the earliest Bulldog cafes still overlooks the main performing pitch on Leidseplein. Most of the eateries in this area seemed to be either Italian or Dutch, specializing in mashed potatos aka Stampot, fish and sausages. Nearby is likely the first Febo, a Dutch fast-food chain that is a vending machine set up.

Amsterdam canals, bridges, boats and bikes

For lack of a better catagory I am dumping many of the photos of Amsterdam’s central canals with their many old buildings, bridges and bikes attached to any and every possible place to lock them up. Common sights are barges, many of them used as house-boats, tourist cruise-boats, tulip shops or fish sandwich stands. Most of the pictures are from the area northeast of the central street Damrack encompassing the area known as Jordaan going as far south as Museumsplein

Amsterdam Museumplein

The musuemplein is a large open aea of green surrounded by many of the city’s major museums. The gothic looking Rijksmuseum or National Museum, the modern Van Gogh Museum, the Moco Museum, the Stedelijkmuseum or city museum with its old building on one side and very modern wing on the other. Also there is the classical Concertgebouw or Concert Hall. There were also a couple of street musicians playing more classical style music, which fit well to the setting.

Amsterdam Schoonschip

North of the old center, reached by a free ferry ride is North Amsterdam an area with a lot of construction and large modern buildings. Then we didn’t figure out the bus route and ended up with a few kilometer walk to get to Schoonschip, an area where there is a modern community of environmentally designed houses built on floating platforms, rather than the more traditional house boats seen elsewhere in the city.

Amsterdam red light district

East of Damrack street from near the central station as far  south as Dam Square is an area with many bars, cafes, restaurants and hotels. Within this area is the infamous red light district with its strip clubs, sex shops and shows and prostitutes that stand in glass fronted enclosure to show off what they have to offer. Among multiple Bulldog coffee shops is the original. There are also a couple of streets that comprise the Chinatown with its temple and many Chinese eateries. There are also a few iconic architectural sites here including the Oeude Kerk or old church and the Minderbroedersklooster aka Grauwmonnikenklooster, a former Franciscan monastery on the Nieuwmarkt or new market (place). Although there is a lot of sleaze, there is also a huge flow of every day tourists and many hotels, shops and cafes are definitely upscale.

Amsterdam street scenes

Lots of miscellaneous photos that don’t quite fit to another category but show the character of the city. Many but not all from the Jordaan neighborhood. 

Haarlem Netherlands

We made a day trip from Amsterdam to see Haarlem and Zandvoort to the west. Arriving in the Haarlem train station, one is greeting by a rather unique set-up. Rather than a large building there is a large roof and under the roof a number of seperate building as waiting rooms for the different classes of passangers. Most of the historical  old wood, glass and tile decor has been preserved. Across from the station was a modern development; an outdoor bicycle parking system to double the capasity of the space.

Grote Markt, St. Bavo Kerk

The main notable sites of Haarlem were clusted around the central Grote Markt or Large Marketplace. The St. Bravo Kerk or church stands out on the skyline. Next to it are 2 historical buildings housing the Archeology Museum Haarlem in a former covered meat market and the Frans Hall Musuem (Art). The city hall and tourist information is at the far side of the square.

Haarlem Scenes

Off of the main square there were a few other museums, plenty of cafes, boutiques, lots of historical houses and buildings, one from a fish dealer.

Zandvoort Netherlands Holland

We went on to the beach resort town of Zandvoort after seeing Haarlem. It is a long an wide stretch of fine sand and shallow water. One can see a long line of wind turbines offshore. And there seems to always be plenty of wnd, which is good for the turbines but annoying if one wants to relax at the beach. One really needs to bring wind protection or rent something at one of the beach clubs. There was a despenser for free sunblock at one beach access point but hardly adequarte for the swarms of visitors at high season. In mid-May it was warm and sunny but lacking the summer time crowds. Like any beach place there are lots of eateries and souvenir shops around.