Amsterdam Dam Square Crowds Countdown Timer

Dam Square on a grey Sunday, the cobbles still wet from a shower that nobody had quite noticed ending, and the Royal Palace sitting at the back of it like a very large, very patient landlord. The building was originally a town hall, which tells you everything about how Amsterdam saw itself in the sixteen hundreds, and it only became a palace when the French turned up and decided they needed somewhere to stay. I like the crowd more than the building. The tour group on the right, all in matching blue rain ponchos, listening to a guide with a little flag. The pigeons doing their absurd strutting walk. The tram tracks curving out of the frame on the left. The bank sign glowing on a brick building that has clearly been here longer than the bank. There is a street performer somewhere out of shot, because there is always a street performer. The sky is the colour of an old coin. I bought a terrible coffee from a cart and drank it standing up, watching the ponchos drift toward the palace and back. Somebody's kid was running in circles for no reason at all, and honestly, on a day like that, so was I.