I was so excited about our trip to the Netherlands! We both really wanted to see the Anne Frank house. We went back and forth on whether we would stay the night in Amsterdam or not, but in the end, we couldn't find a decent hotel for a fair price. But that's okay. (I'll explain more later.)
We got off the train and headed straight to the Anne Frank Huis (House). On the way, we passed the Royal Palace. We didn't stay and explore because we heard there could be long lines to get into the Anne Frank House and I had been unsuccessful in securing advance tickets.
So we arrived and stood in line in the shadow of Westerkerk (the church tower that the Franks would have been able to see from their hideaway).
We waited in line a little over an hour - maybe an hour and a half. If you look, you can see that the line goes all the way down the block and then curves around to the other block (to the right) to the entrance to the museum (which was in the middle of the block). David ran and grabbed us some lunch so we could multitask while we were standing in line.
The Anne Frank House is actually really small, so they only let groups in a few at a time. They also do not allow photographs inside, so I took a photo of the recreation of what it would look like inside.
I also took some photos of the outside. It really just looks like a nondescript building. Like an office building or something.
The whole place was much smaller than I imagined. To think that so many people lived in such tight quarters for so long. It's really astounding. The whole thing was really somber. People were quiet and respectful. There was no furniture in the place - as the Nazi's cleared it all out after they invaded. Anne Frank's father insisted that it stay that way. He didn't want to recreate it.
They also had tons of Anne's writings. I learned that she was intending to publish her diary, so she had an original draft and then another copy she was cleaning up for publishing. Such an amazing young girl.
After Anne Frank House, we went to Westerkerk - an old church you could see from the museum.
In this church, Rembrandt and his son were buried. It was a pretty cool old place.
After Westerkerk, we went to Oudekerk (Old Church). It's the oldest church in the Netherlands. I remember reading that the Red Light District sprung up around it. But David said that the red light district had been shut down.
As we made our way around the church to check out the architecture, we learned that the red light district was very much NOT shut down. I told David to just keep his eyes to the right (toward the church) and we got out of there as quickly as possible.
We explored the city a bit, looking for souvenirs. We were a bit disappointed. Since they had legalized marijuana in the Netherlands it was available everywhere. I was afraid to buy anything in any of the stores because I was afraid it would somehow be tainted. They had pot brownies for sale in the convenience stores! And all kinds of smoking stuff. And people were smoking it in the streets. It was crazy! I just wanted some peanut M&M's!
It was at this point we were VERY glad that we opted not to stay overnight. As we explored, we could see that there were decent sides of town and very seedy sides of town. Plus, the town is really made for bicycles. I can't imagine trying to lug our luggage across town the way it was laid out.
Speaking of bikes...they were everywhere! I got this photo of David front of a bunch on a bridge. He was laughing because everyone kept walking into our shot. Ha ha!
After exploring, we learned there was a maritime museum...write up David's alley.
We checked out this old Dutch East India Company ship they had outside the museum.
It was set up inside with tables and clothes and supplies like you would have seen during that time period.
They also had the Royal Barge on display. It was built in the early 1800's for King William I of the Netherlands and was last used in 1962. It was ridiculously elaborate.
After checking out things outside, we headed inside the museum.
They had art that had to do with the sea and also tons of artistic pieces that came off ships, as well as several instruments and maps.
They had this one section on whales and this giant whale was pretty funny.
One thing we definitely had on our Amsterdam bucket list was seeing a windmill.
It turns out that most of them are in the countryside, so the ones in town are few and far between. It was a bit of trek, but we made our way to the windmill and got the obligatory selfie. =)
After this, we headed back to Belgium for one more night before we headed home.
