Day 8 – Wednesday, April 11 – Amsterdam
On Wednesday morning, Jeremy and I jumped on the tram and headed toward the Anne Frank House. Luckily for us Becky had reserved us tickets in advance, so we skipped the 3-4 hour line and walked right in. It was really interesting and somewhat surreal to visit Anne’s house after so many years of imagining what it must be like from her descriptions in her diary. The museum includes both the attic and building where the family hid during the war and a small museum built into the building next door. The atmosphere was somewhat somber, almost as if the visitors there didn’t want the people downstairs to hear them, like the Frank family. The path of the museum was narrated with Anne’s own words, taken from her diary. I was surprised at how big the attic was. From Anne’s descriptions I expected a space 3-4 times smaller than what we saw. Upon exiting the attic there was a small exhibit of the original diary and another small room about Otto Frank. At the end of the tour there was a bookshop, selling Anne Frank’s diary is almost 80 different languages.
Becky met us outside the Anne Frank House and we walked down to the canal to see the Homomonument, a monument in the center of town commemorating all those who have been persecuted because of their homosexuality. From there, we walked through some different neighborhoods including the nine little streets and the Jordaan. We walked along Prinssengracht and Herengracht, taking in the sites and enjoying all the canals and bridges. From there we walked down haarlemmerstraat, toward the Central Station and stopped for a quick lunch. After lunch we visited the outside of the Central Station, then made our way to the Museum of Our Lord in the Attic. While the building was built in 1630, the top three floors of the house were changed into a church starting in 1661 when Catholics could not practice their religion in public. The building and church are currently under renovation, but we were able to walk through the house and visit the church. It is being restored to look like it did 300 years ago, matching the original art and paint colors.
After the museum Becky took us to the brand new Amsterdam library. The building itself is magnificent and modern, and we enjoyed some coffee and apple cake on the seventh floor with a view overlooking the entire city. After our rest and picture opportunity we walked to Rembrandt House Museum, where the painter lived from 1639 – 1658. In addition to the art displayed, there were demonstrations of how prints are made from etchings and how paint is mixed from ground stones and spices. The museum is really well done and has a nice combination of art, demonstrations, and original furniture and decorations. When we were finished in the museum we walked through Waterlooplein, a flea-market type street with people selling everything from second hand clothing to bikes to copper products. At the end of the street we arrived at the Jewish quarter, housing the Jewish museum and the Portuguese Synagogue. We wanted to go into the synagogue, but unfortunately for us it was 4:05 and it closed at 4:00. So, instead we meandered home, walking and stopping to sit along the Amstel River. We walked by the Hermitage and crossed the famous “skinny bridge.” On our way back toward the center of town Becky took us to Hema, which is sort of like the local Target. We got a few things to bring home with us to Israel (like stroopwafels, which are delicious but not K-for-P). We had a small snack at Hema, then stopped in a local bar for a drink before heading to meet Eric for dinner. We had dinner at an Indian restaurant, which was delicious.
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