Today, I tried taking an inventory of the different airlines I’ve been on, airlines like Alitallia, American Trans Air (although that does not pass through Nigeria anymore), Lufthansa, British Airways and KLM. As I looked at my shortlist, I realized that I had gone farther than the airport in all the home countries of the airlines except Holland. I was quite curious about Holland, but I think I was more intrigued about the city of Amsterdam, because that is the first destination of all the different KLM flights I’ve ever taken. I began punching the word “Amsterdam” in my Google search slot and this is what I came up with: Amsterdam is a wonderful city and it is often referred to as one of the most colorful cities in the world. I heard that there are many places where anyone can find so many places of interest, famous museums, fun shops and (flower) markets. As I was going through the different tourist attractions, the three Grand Canals caught my fancy. The holland.com website described it as a ‘must see’, and that is one challenge I intend to take up.
The Herengracht is the first canal. The section of this canal, which runs from Leidsestraat to Vijzelstraat, is known as the ‘Golden Bend’. It is the most beautiful and most magnificent of all canal houses that are located in this bend of the canal.

The Prinsesgracht is the second and some of the houses on this canal are very old indeed. It contains a lot of ancient buildings that stand as landmarks in Holland and these include the Papeneiland pub which dates from the 17th century, Holland’s first professional school for nurses – the Prinsengracht Hospital, the Wallon Orphanage which stands at the corner with Vijzelgracht and the building’s wing on Prinsengracht. I learnt it was built in 1726.The Prinsengracht also boasts a church, the St. Willibrord Church. It is better known as De Duif (The Pigeon).

The third and last canal is the Keizersgracht. I understand that this has four warehouses where once 100,000 liters of cod liver oil was stored; behind the house with the number 100, you see Cultural Center De Rode Hoed (The Red Hat). House number 123 is the ‘House with the Heads’. Legend has it that the maids in this house caught six burglars red-handed and beheaded them with an axe. Number 546 boasts one of Amsterdam’s most beautiful clock gables. A plaque in the wall of number 560 reminds us of the fact that writer/lawyer Jacob van Lennep lived here from 1830 until his death in 1868. Van Lennep is responsible for supplying the city with clean drinking water from the dunes. As a result, the poor people of Amsterdam no longer had to drink the polluted water from the canals.

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