the little BIG explorers

After walking around Amsterdam for a couple of hours I couldn’t stop noticing three x’s almost everywhere we went – on flags on almost every boat that passed us, bollards in the streets, carved on buildings and on some giant flags. I am a big fan of flags – so had to know what it was.

It turned out that the XXX that I had been seeing around town was the cities coat of arms. The helpful boat tour headphone voice explained that the three X’s supposedly stand for the three plagues that have afflicted the city – fire – flood and disease. Apparently the three X’s are often mistaken to represent the red light district, but are actually three St Andrews crosses in a row. This wasn’t exactly the most exciting story of the city but did a lot to satisfy my geeky flag collecting side. I couldn’t resist the urge for too long and ended up buying one in the nearest souvenir  shop.