Montelbaanstoren Canal Tower Countdown Timer

The Montelbaanstoren was built as a defensive tower in fifteen sixteen and then spent the next few centuries pretending to be a clock tower, which is a very Amsterdam career change. The brick is that deep reddish brown that only looks right under a clear blue sky, and the spire on top is a pale gold that catches the sun long after the streets below have gone into shadow. I took this from a passing boat, which is why the framing is a little crooked and why I have kept it this way. A yellow canal cruiser was coming the other way, close enough that I could hear the guide talking in three languages at once, none of them well. The red car on the bridge is a small accident of timing that I have come to love. I have photographed this tower in every season and it refuses to look ordinary, even in flat grey rain. There is a whole row of narrow houses behind it, leaning gently against each other the way they do here, built on wooden piles sunk into soft ground, still standing because nobody has told them they shouldn't be.