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Amsterdam canal houses along the Amstel
Amsterdam has grown outwards through time in semicircles ever larger and larger from the central point, the Dam. Each semicircle is formed by a broad canal, bordered on both sides by a paved street, in many cases lined with double rows of trees. These semicircles are called Grachten, or Canals, and the most important of them are the Prinsengracht, the Keizersgracht, the Heerengracht, and the Singel. At right angles to these canals, and all converging towards the central point, the Dam, run the smaller streets, in very many cases with canals passing through the centre.
In short, visitors eager for statistics are soon informed, that there are from seventy to eighty of these canals, that they are spanned by nearly three hundred bridges, and that they divide the city into upwards of ninety islands. The outlying parts of the town in the neighbourhood of the Rijks Museum and the Vondelspark, are laid out more in accordance with modern practice.
The houses which line the sides of these canal-streets are tall, often gabled and picturesque, and well calculated to catch the eye and attract the attention of the stranger. In such streets as the Heerengracht, the buildings are often very fine, belonging to wealthy and successful men, like the present Burgomaster of Amsterdam, and not unfrequently being old family mansions, such as that belonging to the Six family.
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