Real Estate Voyeurism in Amsterdam

I went to Amsterdam for a few days last week.

While I went for cultural pursuits of museums, exhibitions, and visiting towns there is a segment of tourists who go for other pursuits.

While I am too laissez-faire to judge, 
there was a part of me that internally thought myself 
a morally upright European citizen because 
I was not interested in peeping through 
the windows of the red light district.

But then I scrolled through my pictures
I took and it turns out that I am a peeping tom of a different sort...

Luckily the Dutch don't attach much importance to window treatments!

The first thing I noticed the time I visited in my teens was that I could look inside people's houses.

That was more mind blowing than the legalized prostitution and cannabis.

They are so open and tolerant of most things.

I asked why people didn't use curtains and my Dutch friend said it's because they had nothing to hide and people are just living. 

Then it seemed like I was the odd one out.

While I enjoyed peering in...

 I enjoyed peering out from the inside.


 I enjoyed being inside having a proper look around the homes.

I love the look of a historic Dutch kitchen.
 

But I loved exploring the canal houses built by wealthy merchants from the Dutch Golden Age.
 

There were homes on the scales of grand country estates but in the center of the city with gardens and coach houses at the rear.

I peered over homes of all types of decor and eras such as this Victorian salon.

And also the homes of the 1700's style.

Sometimes it wasn't only the style but the actual textiles and 
wall coverings that dated back to the 1700's 
such as the ones in the room below.

Textiles from the looms of Nimes

 And 300 year old Delft tiles almost became the norm for me for those few days.
 
 
 The original glaze survives on the edges of the room.
 

It is no coincidence that the Dutch Masters such as Vermeer mastered the science of light.

Blue and white and toile du jouy was au fait and executed without duress.

I can't wait to go on another trip to Holland but focusing on their gardens such as Het Loo and Keukenhof. But in the meantime I was so inspired by the Dutch interiors and the less than clement weather was worth enduring!