Amsterdam

The weather was not the best in the morning but we wandered around the canals in the old part of Amsterdam...

Then we took the tram (we got day tickets) and went to a museum that had an exhibition by Banksy... 

and also by Dali.

(These photos a bit out of order)

In the afternoon we went to the maritime museum...

...and had a tour of this ship.

Bruges to Amsterdam

We drove into the Netherlands, going by way of Zeeland (the peninsulas and islands that jut out into the North Sea).  Our first stop was a place called Goes where we 'had' to try the Dutch speciality of apple cake.

Quaint harbour...

..with higgledy-piggledy buildings...

...and a giant dolls house

Malcolm tried the local cheese.

Next stop was Zierikzee, another nice little harbour

...and a town with quaint old buildings

We had a free entry to this tower/gatehouse place with a film telling the history of the town, acted by the locals :-)

Drove past lots of these

And in one place drove along beside the sea.

A day in Bruges

The weather is not great but the town is amazing.  We walked for hours, taking in most of the scenic spots.  Bruges is encircled by a canal, roads in pass through medieval gatehouses.  Within the city there are other canals, two big squares, churches, and streets of beautiful buildings.

We couldn't go past this place

We went on a tour of this place.  The estate and church go back to the 1400s when one of the Adornes family went to the Holy Land and modeled this church on the Church of the Holy Sepulchure.  Behind the church are almshouses (where the museum is) and gardens and buildings (houses probably) belonging to the family

Part of the 'true cross'

An effigy of Christ, as he would have been lying in Jerusalem.

We also took in a visit to a Da Vinci exhibition, that had working models of many of his inventions - I think he invented everything!

Evening in Bruges

We drove into Bruges passing under a medieval gatehouse, turned beside the canal along a cobbled street, past some windmills to our airbnb.  You can see windmill sails and church towers and spires from the house.  We couldn't wait to explore so spent the evening wandering around between the airbnb and towards the old town centre.  Had dinner at a canal-side restaurant.  We were charmed by the streets; all the buildings were beautiful, the canals had picturesque bridges and we kept wanting to see what was around each bend and along every alleyway. 

Windmills beside the outer canal

We wandered along all the streets that looked interesting...

Lots of bikes outside the houses

Couldn't go past this retaurant...

View across a bridge from the restaurant

Nine o'clock, a lovely evening

Totally picturesque!