Ah, Amsterdam

I feel very privileged to live here, especially to have ended up in this old (monument) house, built in around 1688 for French Huguenots (Protestants) who had to get out of France quick ... before they were murdered in their beds, or met some such dire end: because of their religious convictions and practices. Plus ca change ... indeed, how little the world has changed (in some ways) over the past three hundred and thirty years.
Never forgetting my history (my mother's family, the Deacocks, originally French De Cocq, were among the Huguenots who fled persecution and took refuge in England, and one of whom, I believe, is buried in the Huguenot crypt in Canterbury Cathedral ... have to check that out...) so what serendipity when I found out that the house in Amsterdam which I was living in, was built for some of my ancestors!! Wealthy silk weavers, it seems.
It's in the old heart of the city and makes a good starting point for delightful city rambles. Although I have now lived more than 48 years in Amsterdam, there are still many short twisting alleyways that I have not explored.
Here are a few photos I took a couple of days ago, when out walking near the famous Dam Square.
Oh, this is hilarious ... as you may have gathered, I am not a whizz at computer games! Up pops this pic of David and me taken in Italy (Cinque Terra) about ten years ago, and I find it so amusing I'll leave it. Now to try once more to fly over the Amsterdam pix...