Waterlooplein and Town Hall

Even if you don't want to buy any batik clothes, leather goods or silver jewelry, on no account should you miss Amsterdam's largest and most beautiful flea market, located in Waterlooplein (Waterloo Square). Every day, stall-holders and shopkeepers try to sell their colorful and chaotic mixture of useful items, bric-a-brac and second-hand clothes around the modern Stadhuis (Town Hall), with its eye-catching red and white fa?ade. The Normaal-Amsterdam-Peil, a calibration post, is placed here at ground level. This is the zero point from which heights are calculated in virtually every country in Europe.

Immediately beside it you can see the current sea level in three glass columns, and you will see that without its protective dykes, at normal sea level Amsterdam would be flooded.

© Berlitz Publishing/Apa Publications GmbH & Co KG, Singapore Branch, Singapore

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