The Anne Frank statue in front of the Westerkerk in Amsterdam. The house where she once lived is now a museum, and just around the corner from the statue. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The Anne Frank statue in front of the Westerkerk in Amsterdam. The house where she once lived is now a museum, and just around the corner from the statue. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The weekly farmers market on the Noordermarkt in Amsterdam is one of the few lively places on an early Saturday morning. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The typical gabled canal houses of Amsterdam. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
A typical image of Amsterdam: bicycles locked to a bridge over one of the city's famed canals. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
A street on the edge of Amsterdam's infamous red-light district is nearly deserted on a Saturday morning. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
This sculpture on the Nieuwmarkt in Amsterdam by Dutch sculptor Piet Esser is a tribute to Dutch poet and playwright Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero and depicts a couple embracing in a scene from his ''The Spanish Brabanter.'' (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Bicycles are a popular means of transportation in Amsterdam, and they can be a colorful motif for a photo. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Souvenir wooden shoes in many colors hang from the ceiling of an Amsterdam shop. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
An Amsterdam cafe was abuzz on a recent late Saturday morning, although it was still too cool to sit outside. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The art on an Amsterdam shop window points to the shop's new location. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
(Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The 17th-century Zuiderkerk sticks up its steeple above 20th-century Amsterdam houses. The Zuiderkerk was the city's first Protestant church. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
A collection of gas masks for sale at the Waterlooplein flea market in Amsterdam. Here you can buy military clothes and equipment, CDs and DVDs, books and antiques. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Souvenirs of the gabled Amsterdam canal houses the city is famous for. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
A painting decorates an Amsterdam wall. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The leftovers of a late breakfast at an Amsterdam bar. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
In the photographer's opinion, these french fries, or "Flaamse frits" — Flemish fries, in Dutch — are the best in Europe. They are served from a hole-in-the-wall on a narrow lane near Amsterdam's Spui square. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Although Holland is known for its own cheese, there was Italian Parmesan for sale at an Amsterdam cheese shop. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Flowers bloom in pots on a porch in Amsterdam. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The sometimes-odd architecture of Amsterdam. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Fresh flowers sit in a vase on a table in front of an antique store. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Bicyclists cross a bridge over the Prinsengracht canal in Amsterdam. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Some cities, like New York, supposedly never sleep.
Others, like Paris, seem to wake early, getting ready for another day.
Amsterdam, at least on a Saturday morning, appears to be a city that likes to sleep in. At shortly before 9 a.m., the streets are mostly empty, the canals quiet.
Only a handful of tourists stand in line at the Anne Frank House, waiting for it to open.
Further along the Prinsengracht, in the Jordaan quarter of the city, the action picks up a bit. The farmers market on the Noordermarkt attracts some early morning shoppers, while other people enjoy coffee and conversation at Winkel, a cafe facing the square.
Streets and squares near Amsterdam’s infamous red-light district have a smattering of tourists looking for breakfast and locals doing grocery shopping.
At the Dam, Amsterdam’s central square, pigeons flutter around in front of the royal palace. Along Oude Hoogstraat the trendy boutiques are still closed and in a cafe window a cat naps, mostly oblivious to the photographer taking a photo of it.
On Waterlooplein some vendors are still setting up their stalls at 11 a.m. as visitors sipping coffee-to-go inspect the goods.
Cross the canals to Rembrandtplein, a statue of the famous artist that gave the square its name looks down at tourists posing with life-size figures from one of his most famous paintings, “Night Watch.”
Now the city seems to be awake. Tourists shop for tulip bulbs at the flower market and stand in line for a snack of french fries or a herring sandwich.
It is early afternoon. Locals and tourists alike pedal bicycles over bridges and along the city’s canals, heading here, there, everywhere.
Another Amsterdam day is fully under way.
