Considering my working hours of late and the winter sun up north, it's usually dark when I'm walking home from my usual
tram #25 along Kerkstraat or another nearby street. Kerkstraat is one of 3-4 "gay" areas of the city and two buildings along
Kerkstraat just off Vijzelgracht have rather festive lighting. Makes for interesting night feature and extended exposure-zoom photos.
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This really isn't as tough as it looks...just increase the f-stop/aperture of the camera, crank up the ISO a bit, and take lots of
photos moving the camera/zooming the lens until you get something you like.
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Just down the street in the morning you can see my favorite (and only so far) post office in Amsterdam! This is the Kerkstraat 167
Postkantoor! Of course, being the Netherlands they open at 9 am and close at 5:30 pm, how convenient... The main one by
Centraal Station is open earlier and later, but who wants to go all the way up to Centraal Station?
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Now, I'm not sure if the owner's of this coffee/cappuccino business are aware of this, but in Amsterdam I wouldn't name any
business "Horecare" but maybe they have another job on the side in the evenings. This is right across from the Tram 25 stop on
Vijzelgracht, so I spend part of my morning most days running for this spot just as the tram zooms away or standing here
staring at the buildings across the street and peoplewatching.
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This is along Noorderstraat just off Vijzelgracht to the east. Usually the poles sticking out from the roof or decorative mantle
which were used in days of old, and many still today, to hoist goods and furniture from the ground up through the large windows
in most houses in the center of the city. That way the houses can still be small with winding staircases, but you can still get
large items through the windows. Now, the ones without these poles or for things that won't work they've got these trucks which
come complete with a little platform that moves diagonally up to the window, pretty nifty.
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Just a reminder folks...these are "up" stairs, do not attempt to go down them. I hear there are just loads of stranded people in
this building, but I never have gotten the courage to see exactly why...
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This is a shot through the small window above my door to the street framing the roof of the building across the way. Again,
notice the pole on the right for hoisting furniture etc. The wire is for a streetlamp suspended over the middle of the
street.
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Now this is actually a small child standing on top of the back of a bicycle and his mom driving in front, but the shadow
makes it look like one person, which is fine. This is the intersection of Kerkstraat and Vijzelgracht.
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Here's an enhanced picture of a rose I took while participating in the British Car Rally through a
greenhouse window.
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