Feb 12, 2009
Did you drink too much?
Many buildings in Amsterdam lean to one side or another — and have done so long before you started drinking.
Some lean on purpose; forward into the street to make hoisting goods and furniture easier.
Others lean because some of the wooden pillars — driving into the sandy soil until they rest on a layer of rock — have started to rot, perhaps due to receding ground water.
Yet others lean for different reasons. The building Cafe Pieper — at the corner of Prinsengracht and Leidsegracht — is housed at leans of old age, it seems. Note the way the stained glass windows are set into the frame.
