Day 13 – Amsterdam

Today was museum day!! 

First stop the Anne Frank house. We were smart and booked our tickets a few months ago so we didn’t have to wait in line. We saw the line yesterday when we went on our walking tour. The line went around the block. 

The museum guides you through the beginning of Anne Franks experience being placed into hiding. We stepped through the hidden annex behind the bookcase that lead to her and her family’s home for two years. 


The stairs behind the bookshelf are very steep and narrow. You walk up them and enter into a haunting world. It’s sad to know what happened to her and her family after being caught by the nazis. Her father Otto Frank was the only survivor and he found a publisher for her journal. Anne wrote that she wanted to become a novelist and even though she wasn’t able to see her dream come true the world will always remember her. A 13 year girl who had to grow up too fast and die too young. 

Our second museum was the Rjyksmuseum where we saw many floors of art from paintings to delftware to books and furniture. Rembrandt works were shown and the crowds were gathered around the paintings. This museum is big but not nearly as big as the Louvre. 


The third museum was the Van Gogh. I enjoyed this museum much more than the Rjkes as Van Goghs art is more my style. My favorite piece is the starry night which is actually displayed in NYC. 



I snuck a few photos but photography is frowned upon there. 

After the museums we walked the town a bit. We checked out the Red Light District and some of the “coffee shops” This city is very lively and when it comes to bikes, cars and motor scooters pedestrians are the bottom of the barrel. You better move if a bike comes around. Even cars don’t stop for you here. I find this strange being from Seattle. It’s very different than back home. Motor scooters drive in bike lanes and nobody yields to each other. I don’t know why anyone would want to actually drive a car here but they do. People park bikes anywhere they want. We saw a van back into bikes that were chained up and not even care. I’m sure the wheels are bent on the bikes. Our tour guide said he’s gone through 6 bikes in 3 years. Sometimes bikes get tossed in the canals if they aren’t tied to a rail. The canals get dragged from time to time to pull out the bikes and so boats don’t get tangled in them. Bikes here aren’t super nice. They are meant to go from point A to B so none are expensive looking. They get knocked over sometimes. We’ve seen piles of bikes on their side and that’s just normal I guess. 


We are now down to one last day in Amsterdam before we fly out Saturday morning. 

It rained quite a bit today. We got soaked after the Anne Frank museum and had to run back to the hotel to change clothes. 

The tough thing about traveling is not being able to wash clothes well and easily. Our socks have holes now and when you run out of underwear you have a big problem. Our room in Amsterdam is barely large enough for a full sized bed. But our celieings are high enough for bunk beds. Very strange. I’m sure this room used to be a closet. 



This is how you wash clothes when traveling. Wash in the AM and let dry for a few days in the shower. Fun!! 

Distance walked 11.96 miles