My favorite part of Amsterdam was its canals, where we spent a lot of our time, walking along them for all of one day and cruising along them on another. These images were taken over the course of four days and are in no particular order, just some of the countless scenes I liked. The canals form a ring around the old city center and are crossed by a large number of picturesque bridges. Along the buildings lining them are elegant mansions, traditional Dutch houses, numerous houseboats, waterside cafes, people's personal watercraft and the ubiquitous tourist tour boats that ply the canals all day long.

Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands, has been called the "Venice of the North" for its more than 100 kilometers of canals, about 90 islands and 1,500 bridges. The three main canals, Herengracht, Prinsengracht, and Keizersgracht, dug in the 17th century during the Dutch Golden Age, form concentric belts around the city, known as the Grachtengordel. Alongside the main canals are 1,550 monumental buildings. The 17th-century canal ring area, including the Prinsengracht, Keizersgracht, Herengracht and Jordaan, were placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2010. (Wikipedia) For more information on this fascinating canal system as well as an aerial view, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canals_of_Amsterdam