Dazzling Amsterdam : The IJ

Welcome Steemians, to the first part of a series of posts I plan on doing, called:

Dazzling Amsterdam.

The IJ is a river that runs through Amsterdam, separating the northern part of town from the rest of the city. It connects the North Sea to the IJsselmeer, which is the biggest man-made freshwater lake of the Netherlands.

You can cross the IJ by using one of 4 free ferry's and most of the canalcruise boats go over it as well. This will give you a lovely view of the city:

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Here's a closer look at the tower on the left side of the picture:

The tower was constructed in 1966 as the direction-office and laboratories of the oil-company Shell, which used it until 2009.
In 2016 the tower was re-opened after a huge renovation. It now houses a hotel, 2 restaurants, a handful of young creative companies and even a nightclub in the basement (aptly named Club Shelter). There's also a lookout on the 22nd floor which has a swing that swings over the edge of the building.
The white UFO-looking building next to it is EYE, the Amsterdam film-museum. Next to it being a stunning piece of architecture, it houses changing expositions as well as several movie-theaters.

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On the overview picture of the IJ you can also see a large horizontal shaped building that has "AMSTERDAM" written on it (zoom in on the middle of the overview photo). This is the backside of Amsterdam Central Station, which looks like this on the frontside:

I might do a separate post on the Central Station. Let me know in the comments if you're interested.

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On the right-hand side of the overview photo are building blocks which are mostly residential, but the Amsterdam Palace of Justice is also situated here. One of these residencies sticks out in particular:

The slender tower in the middle holds one 11-stories high residence!

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The ferry that we took today, goes to the old NDSM-shipyard, which is now a cultural playground in the northern part of town.
I'll tell you more about this place in the next post on Dazzling Amsterdam, tomorrow!

Peace and love!