We have flown through Schiphol Airport more times than either of us can remember, but Rob had never been into Amsterdam itself, and I had visited only once or twice, over 25 years ago. So this time we made it our business to stop over for couple of days - two-and-a-half, to be precise. Just enough time to form an impression, and what an impression it was - water, canals, the mild Dutch light bathing the infinitely varied, wonderfully detailed gabled buildings leaning forward over the streets, and most of all, the three Bs: bridges, boats, and bicycles, more bicycles than we have ever seen in one city.

I went out on a Sunday morning, early, before the city had begun to stir, with tripod and camera, to explore our neighbourhood, and again on our last evening, to take a few final shots. Other images had to be grabbed on the fly, as we walked the cobbled streets and wandered along canals, or from the sightseeing boat as we glided and gently rocked over the lapping water.

The nine photographs in this series come closest, I think, out of the hundred or more that I took, to capturing something of the impression that this busy, modern, yet timelessly beautiful city made upon us.