|
|
|
|
|
|
Amsterdam is a large and beautiful city. It has many canals running through it, and the rich people built houses along the sides of these canals. At first, there was no plan for flushing the dirty water out of the canals, and in summer the awful smell of the filthy water caused people to go and live somewhere out in the country for a while.
In the olden days, small ships sailed up the canals to dock in front of the stores and buildings beside the canals and winched their goods straight up into attic storerooms.
 |
Tourists coming to visit Amsterdam can explore it by going on small boats around the canals. It is a very good way to see the city. |
|
Another good way to see the city is by bike. Because this country is so flat, lots of people ride bikes everywhere. This sea of bicycles is outside the Central Station. In Amsterdam, 400,000 bicycles are ridden in the crowded streets alongside trams, cars and pedestrians. |
 |
Because they don't have sandstone and granite like neighboring countries have, the Dutch didn't build in stone. In the Netherlands they have lots and lots of clay, so they built their buildings in brick. If you look at the picture at the top of this page, you can see the buildings alongside the canal are made of brick.