"Amsterdam - A beautiful and unique city " a Amsterdam Travel Page by simonli625

Amsterdam doesn't have a lot of grand building/monuments like in Paris or Rome. What Amsterdam does have is a lot of unique and beautiful canal houses all around the city. The city never ceased to amaze me with all the beautiful gables and unique architecture of each individual houses.

When I looked out from the windows from the Rembrandt's house, I bet what I saw is pretty much the same as what Rembrandt saw 350 years ago.

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The literal meaning of Amsterdam is the dam on the river of Amstel. Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. The oldest building in Amsterdam is the oude kerk (Old church). It was built in the 13th century.

During the 16th and 17th century, Amsterdam was one of the richest city in the world. It is an international sea-trading port. The Dutch East India Company was established in 1602. It traded goods from East India, Indonesia, and other east Asia countries to other countries in Europe. Because of the city's tolerance of religion, a lot of rich merchants,Jews, politicians, and outcast settled in Amsterdam during the various religion war in other cities in Europe.http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/i/87998/7/

The rich merchants built a network of canals and beautiful houses in Amsterdam. There are couple major canals: Singel, Herengracht, Keizergracht, Princengracht.

I would highly recommends to rent a bicycle in Amsterdam. You will see a lot more than by foot and it is convenience. Just don't forget to lock your bicycle. The top crime in Amsterdam is stealing bike.

Some attractions in Amsterdam are: Anne Frank house, Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Red Light District, Coffee house, the flower market, the Jordaan area, Dam square, Oude Kerk, sex museum, etc.