The House with the Gnomes

Right at the start of Ceintuurbaan, where it meets the Amstel River, stands one of Amsterdam's most charming oddities: the House with the Gnomes.

Wrapped in greenery and built in a style that looks like it wandered straight out of a fairy tale, this place has been a National Monument since 1984, which means the government officially decided it was too wonderful to ever mess with. The real stars of the show, though, are the two gnomes perched along the eaves. Each one stands about 2.5 metres tall, which is a seriously impressive gnome, and they appear to be tossing a ball back and forth between them. They've been frozen mid-throw for well over a century, patiently waiting for their moment.

According to local legend, the ball actually changes hands every night at midnight. Other versions of the story insist it only happens on New Year's Eve, and the most dramatic version saves the whole affair for February 29th in a leap year. Nobody can quite agree, which honestly makes the legend better. Today, real people live inside this fairy-tale house, and judging by how beautifully it's maintained, they're clearly proud of their very unusual neighbours up on the roofline.