Reflecting on Amsterdam

At the end of a long and rather stressful day, full of the joys of travelling (45 mins on the tarmac at Heathrow) and so many conference calls I lost count, I found myself in Amsterdam. It was mid-evening before I was able to get out, walk around and unwind, eat (I found a super little Tibetan restaurant)...and find a blip.

When you think of Amsterdam, two things(*) come to mind: canals, and...how shall I put this?..."establishments of ill-repute"! I was about to go with the respectable option and fall back on a conventional "cute houses lining the sides of a canal" shot, when I spotted the opportunity to combine the two in a single picture :)

(* ok, maybe a few more... silent but deadly trams... equally silent cyclists, who think ringing a sweet little bell half a second before they run you down makes it ok... coffee shops offering cookies with dubious ingredients... kiosks selling cones of spindly chips with almost as dubious toppings... women considerably taller than I am... men considerably taller than the women who're considerably taller than I am... cheese... tulips... )