Little kings...

another picture from kings day! i totally forgot to post yesterday. but well, now you see it today. a street in amsterdam, close to the vondelpark, a large park near the center of amsterdam (named after the dutch author joost van den vondel). its a very pretty park, always busy with people biking, lots and lots of people jogging (we recently did that for the first time there and it is indeed nice, but i would only do it when its not crowded), people bbqing when the weather allows, children playing... during kings day its filled with people selling their stuff.

in the photo above i liked the tiny house at the end, it looks a little out of place, next to the other house blocks. most houses in amsterdam are 4 stories high. blocks and blocks, all slightly different in design and placement etc you can see throughout amsterdam (we live in a less fancy version of one, for example). i think they are almost always 4 stories high as most of them were built in a time when there were no elevators in apartment blocks yet. climbing up 4 stairs is the absolute maximum to climb. we live at the 4th floor ourselves (in the usa you would call it the 5th floor, btw), and am always totally done after the 4 stairs. especially with lots of groceries. no matter how much i go to the gym, or how long i run, bike or swim, i am panting after climbing up 4 stairs... as i am pretty average, i guess this goes for most people... ;)
ah, and do you see all the flags? unlike in the usa, the flag is not displayed on a daily basis. only during certain events the dutch are truly patriotic (kings day, soccer tournaments, etc..).