Been traveling a little over the New Year period. In no particular order, there will be a few posts covering the main areas visited. First (alphabetically, if not chronologically) is Amsterdam, a place to which I had not been before. Other than being bitingly cold, I rather liked it. It reminded me a little of Stockholm, or Paris before Paris went to the dogs (I went to Paris a couple of years ago, and I'm never going back unless someone offers me a trillion yen to go photograph the place...and even then I'd think long and hard about it).

But back to Amsterdam. We had a day and a half, but it gets dark early so a lot of night shots, a.k.a. The D3's Idea Of A Good Time. But before it got dark, in fact before we even got out of the airport, I noticed some pretty fantastic sunbeams poking through the clouds onto the airport. This called for HDR.

The black thing in the middle is a bird. I could have cloned it out, but it doesn't bother me much.

As we didn't have that much time, we headed straight for Amsterdam Central station and headed into the centre of town. I wasn't expecting to hear bagpipes, for sure.

There were a fair few performers around. I don't know the technical terms for these guys, but they dress up, stand still and pose with tourists. Sort of like interactive mimes. This one wasn't up for having his picture taken, but I got a lock on him wide open at F2 with the 105DC and wasn't about to let it go.

This one seemed less shy

There are absolutely loads of bicycles in Amsterdam (and this isn't the only bike picture), but I particularly liked the colours on this one.

You can't really do Amsterdam without seeing the boats either. I wouldn't have taken a ride in winter weather, but plenty of people did.

Not to mention the ubiquitous trams

Another boat

And a smaller one

This boat doesn't know if it's blue or green. 

Random shot from the walk back

I nearly missed this shot completely because I forgot that I'd selected a focus point on the edge of the area and I was trying to focus with the middle one. Just realised in time and subsequently the focus is on the horse's flank rather than its face.

Some street shots

This man with the shock of white hair was a street preacher from what I could make out. He was certainly letting people know what he thought, at any rate.

Not sure whether they were doing this for warmth, friendship or both.

Quite a few musicians around despite the cold

Stars

Cool (in both senses of the word) way to travel

Not a place you want to get caught shoplifting in

Did I mention that there are a lot of bicycles in Amsterdam?

People in some countries boast about having two cars. Here, it's different.

This one was just to see how the D3S focused wide open on a moving target. Answer: pretty damn well

At the station I spotted these two staff with red hats. Terrible lighting conditions, so had to use a high ISO and fix the white balance later. 

Lastly, a night shot

The next part will be up soon, so keep an eye out!

Thanks for looking.