Amsterdam, from the water
I collect the city's water stories from my tiny steel boat.
Hi, I'm Isabelle.
I was born in Amsterdam, I studied here, and spent years working as a tour guide on the canals, so you can imagine that I’ve collected a few (too many) stories along the way. After repeating the same route over and over again, I was ready to change course. Not just telling stories about the water anymore, but spending time with the people living and working on it: the skippers, boat builders, bridge operators, houseboat residents, and all other characters who contribute to the daily life around the canals. This is my way of sharing that world with you: to experience the city slowly, see things differently, and feel (even) more connected to it. I hope you enjoy the stories as much as I love collecting them.
Notes from the water.
Loading stories,
You probably know a canal character I don't.
The woman who feeds the herons. The man who plays trumpet from his window at 7pm. The bar where the bartender always pours the wrong drink. Send them my way, I'll go find them.
5:42am, fog, no other boats. Today is going to be a good one.
“The bike-shop man on Lijnbaansgracht has been there 41 years. Talk to him.”, Marieke
Asked a stranger why he was crying on a bridge. He said: ‘Just the city, sometimes.’
Hidden coffee window on a houseboat near KNSM. Knock twice.