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| One of the Amsterdam old markets held in a place called Nieuwmarkt. It is delightfully located with a canal going under it, many coffee houses (and, needless to say, tons of bikes) near it, and the Waag, a 15th century building and the oldest non-religious building standing, right next to it. The Waag, now a restaurant, used to be the weight-house. Look at some of the tilted buildings on the left. Some of them were warehouse (at least indirectly linked to the Waag) and their structure was such that carrying weights upstairs should not damage them. |
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| In the market was a coin shop. As I collect contemporary coins (not collecting old coins is mainly a side-effect of not being rich) and asked for Commemorative 2 Euro coins. They had none. But oh wait, I do have a Dutch one from this year. You see, Queen Beatrix has now handed over the reins to her son, Willem-Alexander, the Prince of Orange. The coin minted to commemorate that occasion is called the double portrait and is prized by the Dutch who are perhaps almost as crazy about their monarchs as the rest of Europe. The coins do not tend to show up that frequently. I keep them aside when I get one. Here is one, he said, producing a coin neatly kept in a small transparent plastic bag. 'How much?', was my quick question. 'Oh, 2 Euro', he said even more quickly. I made sure that he really meant it and accepted it. Just to show my gratitude I bought a small box of world stamps. At that he proceeded to produce his box of change in case I wanted to rummage through it looking for more Euro coins that I did not have. What a man! I had all of them, but picked a few small denomination ones that are seen less frequently, paid at face value. I also gave him a Hawaii National Parks quarter that I happened to have and moved on. |
