Coat-of-Arms

This my be one of my favorite shots of the city.  The triple X symbol is seen throughout Amsterdam and is recognized as its coat of arms.  Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with the seedy side of town... 

"The three St. Andrew’s Crosses in white on a black stripe on a red background. On the flag they appear horizontally, but most other places they appear vertically. St. Andrew was a fisherman who lived in the 1st Century AD and was said to have been crucified on an X-shaped cross. The Amsterdam XXX symbol dates back to the year 1505 when the city was a fisherman’s town, so the coat of arms was established as the symbol for the city itself and it also flew as a flag on all ships registered in Amsterdam."