NOW you see why we Dutch prefer violins and flutes,’ our guide Ed jokes. He points to a piano being winched to the top of one of the tall gabled houses that grace the side of Amsterdam’s canals and are so skinny the only way to get furniture in and out is through a window at the top—hence the hooks hanging from the gables.
It’s strangely mesmerising to watch it inch its precarious way up, but we can’t hang around because we have a date with a stall selling —a naughty-but-nice Dutch snack (think doughnut deep fried and filled with raisins) that is ubiquitous across the Netherlands in the lead up to Christmas.