Amsterdam in passing

After Prague, I travelled to Amsterdam for a visit to the company's R&D Centre with a group of customers, as well as my induction program at the company’s HQ located at Schiphol World Trade Center, a stone’s throw away from the Schiphol Airport. After the visit to the R&D Centre, we took our guests’ to visit Zaanse Schans, a delightful windmill village on the east bank of the River Zaan, since we had few hours to spare before their departure flight at night. I visited this village back in 2007, so it was a walk down memory lane snapping photos of the windmills, visiting the clog- and cheese-making workshops.







I didn’t plan to extend my stay in as I’ve seen most of Amsterdam in my last two trips but extend I did, at the very last minute, when I found out that Keukenhof would open its gate the day after (more about Keukenhof in another post). I spent that one day wandering around the many canals of Amsterdam, before taking a walk around what used to be the Jewish centre of Amsterdam.

Westerkerk

Amsterdammers enjoying the beautiful spring day by a canal.

Hollandsche Schouwburg, an old theater where Nazis processed many of Amsterdam's Jewish victims before they deported them to concentration camps.

Wertheimpark, a small park with a memorial to Auschwitz victims. Broken mirrors laid flat on the ground reflecting a shattered sky, with a dedication that reads, NOOIT MEER AUSCHWITZ (Never Again Auschwitz).

Joods Historisch Museum (Jewish Historical Museum), once comprised of four separate synagogues built by Jewish refugees from Germany and Poland in the 17th and 18th centuries.