Amsterdam

Today it was Amsterdam’s turn to show us what she has to offer. There are many beautiful things to see there and some very impressive sights to visit (such as the Anne Frank house, more on that later in this post)

It wasn’t just me and Sarah today, Kim (another cousin of us, who I hadn’t seen in years) was with us too, three times the fun!!

We walked all around the city starting at the central station, through the Volkelpark, all the way up to Museumplein with its iconic ‘IAmsterdam’ sign and of course the recently reopened Rijksmuseum, the museum that has the Night’s Watch on display.

After getting our photo taken with the IAmsterdam sign (and I unfortunately have my eyes closed in that!) we walked to Leidsche Plein or lunch. Lots of options for places to eat at Leidsche Plein , most bars and restaurants have their seats in the centre of the square all together which makes for a very nice atmosphere.

After getting our well deserved lunch we wandered off in the direction of the Anne Frank house. As we got closer we noticed an enormous queue that stretched all the way around the corner. But let me tell you this, the Anne Frank house is so worth to queue up for! And the queue might seem gigantic, we didn’t even had to wait that long, around 20 minutes or so to get in.
Once you get inside there is a lot of background information on who Anne and her family and other hiders were. What it was like living in wartime and even videos, photos and interviews with people who helped the Frank family during their hiding. At the end you see a video of Anne’s father, the only survivor of all of them and how he came to the decision to have Anne’s diary published.

Of course you get to walk through the secret annexe, and as chatty as people are in the front of the house, once you pass through the hidden door behind the book case everyone was quiet and I mean everyone, even kids!

I think all of us understood the horror these people had to go through, and for me personally it made me realise once again what my grandparents had to go through as well.

Leaving the Anne Frank house behind we felt we had to shake off the uneasiness and the emotional feelings. So a canal boat ride sounded like a good idea.

Sailing the canals Amsterdam is famous for you get a whole different feel of the city and you see things you usually wouldn’t see. Except maybe for bikes, because no matter where you go in Amsterdam or how you travel the city; bikes are everywhere! There are even lee bikes than people occupying Amsterdam with 25,000 bikes dragged up from the bottom of the canals!!

The canal sailing for our spirits up, and before heading home we got a delicious meal at the Heineken cafe at Bijlmer Arena Station.

Oh and of course we saw lots of souvenir shops selling touristy things with the Cannabis leaves on them 😉 (and there are not just tourist shops selling cannabis related things if you catch my drift 😉 )

Be sure to visit Amsterdam when you get the chance, and make sure you join that queue at Anne Franks house, it’s a must see, we can never forget!