We arrived in Amsterdam on June 26th. As we were spending 3 nights in Amsterdam, I took the first night to relax! I made a few phone calls to family and friends back home - it was really great to use that opportunity to catch up and get the low down on what's happening.
The next day we explored Amsterdam. It was so hot! 35C and humid. We sweated. A lot. On our walk to the downtown area, we passed several sights including Amsterdam's most popular market - Albert Cuyp Market, Rikjsmuseum (currently being renovated, built in 1876, contains works of art by Rembrandt and other famous artists).
Albert Cuyp Market
Back of Rikjsmuseum with the iamsterdam letters
We then went to visit the Anne Frank House located in the centre of Amsterdam. Unfortunately we were not permitted to take photos inside the house, but I have mental memories.
Anne Frank statue
Entrance to the Anne Frank House
I remember studying about Anne Frank in high school and reading her diary. I actually own a copy of her book because I found it so fascinating, so visiting the house was an incredible experience that brought what I had learned in the past and read in her diary to life. In the house, we could see the bookcase that hid the stairs to their living area. We walked up these stairs to see where Anne Frank and her family lived. We got to see her real diaries with her near perfect penmanship, the Normandy map her father, Otto Frank, used to track the invasion and a section of the wall where Otto kept track of how much Anne and her sister Margot had grew during the hiding period. There were also perserved sections of the walls in which Anne posted all kinds of images on the walls to cheer up the room she shared with Fritz Pfeffer. The images included postcards of the Dutch Royal family and magazine clippings. It was an incredible experience and I recommend you visit this site if you ever go to Amsterdam. Just be prepared for a long line up unless you buy your tickets in advance online.
The remainder of the day we ventured around Amsterdam's 165 canals and 1,281 bridges - ok, we didn't see them all, but we saw a fair chunk of bridges and canals. We visited the Skinny Bridge which is a wooden drawbridge built in 1670 and visited Oude Kerk, a church located in the Red Light District (RLD). It is Amsterdam's oldest church (since 1306). No trip to Amsterdam is complete without a visit to the famous RLD. It was basically what I imagined it to be - filled with coffeeshops (where you can buy your marijuana, special brownies and space cakes etc. If it's coffee you're after, you visit a cafe - NOT a coffeeshop), convenience stores, cheap food and sex shops. Trash at it's finest! My time spent in the RLD was brief as it wasn't appealing to me at all. I saw what it was about and that was it. I'd rather walk through the beautiful areas of Amsterdam and admire the beauty of its narrow buildings and the stunning canals and bridges that encompass the city.
Fast food in vending machines? An Amsterdam invention??
Beautiful canals intertwine within the city
Red Light District
Hash & Cannabis lollipops for sale in the RLD...tsk tsk.
Skinny Bridge
Ahh, the beauty of Amsterdam
And then there are the public urinals.....not so beautiful.
Zaanse Schans
On our 2nd full day in Amsterdam, I knew I wanted to see something that was more typical of Holland. I had my fill of Amsterdam the previous day and was ready to see something that was traditional Holland. After some google searching, I found a place called Zaanse Schans, a touristy spot that had a wooden shoe shop, cheese making and real working wooden windmills. Everything that I wanted to see located in one handy spot!
We boarded the bus from Central Station and within an hour we were at Zaanse Schans. It was such a cute little village. We started off by eating at the local restaurant famous for its Dutch pancakes - otherwise known as pannenkoeken. I've had pannenkoek's at De Dutch back at home, but I needed to sample the real thing. I ordered an apple and cinnamon pannenkoek and Matt ordered a ham and cheese one. Here's a pic of mine!
It was delicious and not sweet at all. That's the one great thing I love about Europe is that the "sweet" stuff here isn't sweet! The apples taste like apples, not apples loaded with sugar.
We then went to a wooden shoe store. We watched a demonstration in Chinese on how the shoes are made and then we walked through the shop and tried on a pair. It would have been really cool to purchase a pair to own, but I think my family would get tired of hearing me clomp up and down the hallway in the shoes!
Shoes galore!
Our demonstration in Chinese on how the shoes were made!
Do you like my shoes?
Mmmm, cheese!
Samples of cheese...and samples of mustards and salsas too.
Here are a few more pics of the village!
If you're wondering why the wooden shoe demo was in Chinese, it's because there was a Chinese tour group in the shop :)
ReplyDeleteOk as most people know this is my second time to Amsterdam. The first time i was there i spent all my time on the red light district and area surrounding it. Relax its not what you think. So I knew that i wanted to go back and see more of Amsterdam and its culture. So going to Zaanse Schans was definately a good thing even if it was designed for tourists. I also had a pankook ;-) with ham and melted gouda on top! It was excellant! The wooden shoes or clogs were ideal because they served as safety boots! They were worn with thick socks as you can imagine they wouldnt be as comfortable without. I was tempted to buy a pair for working at home. Space was limited!
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that was nice about amsterdam that I am surprised we didnt take pictures of was the many parks! This also is the venue for many concerts as well as local "jam sessions" which is very entertaining.
Anne Franks house was very interesting to see how people lived during these harsh times! Highly recommend seeing if in amsterdam!
Another side note is amsterdam has more canals than venice so if that is the reason you are going to venice you may want to think twice :-)
Great pictures. I want to travel so bad. I really want to go Croatia sailing.
ReplyDelete