Amsterdam isn't just famous for its canals, red-light district, and museums. The city also boasts some of the "most quirky and interesting" attractions suggested for visitors to explore and gain a deeper understanding of the Dutch capital.
Flower bicycle
A stroll around downtown Amsterdam, admiring the brightly colored flower-decorated bicycles perched on bridges over the canals, is the first suggestion for tourists. These bicycles, adorned with fabric flowers and sequins, are the work of Warren Gregory, a long-time American resident of the capital. The flower bicycles have become famous thanks to their frequent appearances on TikTok, Instagram, and other social media platforms.
Gregory made his first flower-decorated bicycles for his wife, Michelle, nearly 20 years ago. His wife suffers from short-term memory loss and often complains about losing her bicycle. In reality, Michelle didn't lose her bike. She just couldn't find it among the thousands of identical bikes parked outside Amsterdam's central train station. Therefore, Gregory decorated his wife's bike with flowers so she could easily recognize it. "I'm just a man who loves his wife and found a way to help her," Gregory said.
To date, Gregory has created a new characteristic in the Netherlands – flower-decorated bicycles. Nearly 500 flower-decorated bicycles exist, with about 100 scattered throughout Amsterdam. The rest are located in other cities and towns.
Gregory has been nicknamed "the man of flower bicycles" by locals. He says he is very grateful for the "love and warmth" that people have given him. Currently, Gregory receives private orders to decorate flower bicycles for cafes, small businesses, and museums. In June 2023, he created a yellow bicycle covered in fabric sunflowers to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Van Gogh Museum.
Painting by Fabrice Hünd
Love was also the driving force behind the late Dutch visual artist Fabrice Hünd (1961-2021) when he created large, complex works of art for Amsterdam's public spaces.
Alain-Celest de Buck, co-founder of the art studio Depart From, said Fabrice's work is primarily about pure love and how people connect with each other.
Buck's studio developed Tour de Fabrice, a free online guide in Dutch, with the support of the city authorities, to help people in the city see the late artist's works. The tour includes check-ins at six large mosaics, three large paintings, and a traditional piece. According to Buck, the tour "is very popular with visitors."
One of Hünd's most visible works is entitled The Compass – a giant mosaic in Marie Heinekenplein square, a five-minute walk from the Albert Cuyp market.
Gable stone
Amsterdam's gablesteens are a popular destination for tourists exploring the city. These gablesteens are natural stone slabs, carved, painted, and placed on the walls of multi-story buildings. Before the 19th century, when the city didn't have a numbering system, these stones were used to locate addresses.
Each plaque depicts an object or scene related to the homeowner's name or business, or reflects their beliefs or political views. Noah's Ark from the Bible is the most frequently depicted theme on these stone slabs. These plaques are essential when homeowners wish to register the sale or purchase of their property.
Currently, around 1,000 gable stones remain in the Dutch capital, with nearly 700 located in public spaces.
Mini library
Mini-libraries, commonly found in residential areas of Amsterdam, are small wooden or metal boxes located in public spaces and containing various types of books. People can take them home for free and return them after they have finished reading.
Enkiri Bloem, an Amsterdam resident, says the mini-libraries are a "lovely city initiative" and a good way to reuse old books. There are currently around 800 mini-libraries.
Most of the bookshelves are handcrafted, while others are from the renowned Ikea brand. They are often recognizable by their vibrant colors, quirky shapes, or sometimes their unremarkable appearance.
In the trendy Noord neighborhood, a small boat has been converted by locals into a mini-library. In the Jordaan district in the west of the city, the library is an old telephone booth.
The residents are also very interested in and appreciative of these small libraries. They invest effort in decorating them to make the neighborhood more welcoming with attractive wooden book boxes.
University (according to VnExpress)Source
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