For many of us, the first image that comes to mind thinking about Amsterdam is a scene like the one below: rows of canal houses, quiet waterways and a sprinkling of houseboats.
But while you'll see a lot of that walking around in central Amsterdam, you'll also see that there's a bit of a taste for the ornate, the fantastic, even the amazing and amusing. Here are a few samples from a recent visit.
Among them, the house above along a canal bank near the Rijksmuseum; I don't know its history, but today it's the home of a title insurance company.
The Rijksmuseum itself is a serious red-brick fantasy, confected by the same architect as the similarly-styled Centraal station. Another in the same vein is the former headquarters of the Dutch postal system, now an upscale shopping mall called Magna Plaza.
Carrying it a bit further, we get this wedding-cake fantasy, originally a private home, and the Port van Cleve, a hotel and restaurant.
Sometimes it's not even a far-out design; sometimes it's just being different from the neighbors.
Some modern buildings as well; first, where the Van Gogh Museum meets the Stedelik Museum, and below that a splash of color in a modern block.
Houseboats are certainly an Amsterdam thing, but they, too, have their variations, including one that yes, has a brick building resting on its hull.
And there are buildings that stand out for their artistic decoration rather than their architecture.
And last, but not least, a recent artwork. The style is reminiscent of street art in many places, but the medium is not paint: It's a giant mosaic.
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