Amsterdam - Muiderslot

Another cool, overcast day, but no wind this morning and the reflections in the canal are lovely.  This is the view that we see each morning from our bed.

We headed for Muiden (pronounced Mao-den) this afternoon.  There is a bridge in Muiden which crosses the canal, and rotates laterally 90 degrees to let boats up the canal every half hour or so.  This means that foot and bike traffic must wait for the boats to go through and the bridge to rotate back again.  It took about 10 minutes to rotate the bridge, let the boats pass and restore the bridge to land traffic.

The bridge is moving to let the boats through

The bikes are stopped and waiting their turn - the line is further than one can see

Our destination was Muiderslot (Mao-ders-loht), which is about 15 minutes away by public transport.  It's part of the original fortification of Amsterdam and is on the UNESCO World Heritage list.  The original castle was built in 1280, but was destroyed in 1300.  An identical castle was rebuilt around 1370, which still stands today.

Yep - the moat goes all the way around

The entrance bridge over the moat

We did a guided tour through five rooms that had been restored with 17th century furnishings.  The tour was in Dutch but we had an English handout to read.

The Knight's Hall with some lovely artwork

The views from the castle are amazing

The Sentry's Walk around the top of the castle (complete with arrow slits)

Looking down on the courtyard from the Sentry's Walk

Cannonballs!!

Lots of narrow, spiral staircases

Another view from on high

Suits of armour were made for people much smaller than we are today

The Eagle Owl in the Falconry (Dutch and German = Uhu)

Wow.  Just wow.

I'm standing on the drawbridge next to the castle - you can see me reflected in the moat

It's totally amazing from every angle

The natural archway into the castle gardens

And the castle from the archway

 There were lots of different bees on the flowers in the gardens, all of them quite a bit larger than our Australian bees.  At least 4 different varieties, and none were happy to be photographed.  Here's the best shot, which shows the one with orange bum and the one with the white bum.  They look furry, too.