Our final day began with a delicious breakfast buffet in the hotel, we then walked in the rain to the Anne Frank Museum.
Anne Frank's house was heart-wrenching, and moving. The story, the layout of the museum, they way the story was conveyed, and walking through the rooms, really has an impact. It was amazing that she wrote in her diary, that she "hoped to become a famous writer". Her actual diaries are on display, along with the German attendance sheet, checking her in to Bergen-Belson Concentration Camp. She died 1 month before the liberation. Her diary was actually a series of notebooks, which she then re-wrote and edited on 300+ individual looseleaf sheets.
After the Anne Frank Museum, we went to RijkMuseum, which is a very large building, but is rather small inside. They do have an amazing array of Rembrandt works, Rembrandt was from Amsterdam, and was a very famous and wealthy artist by the time he was in his early 20's, a big contrast to Van Gogh, who never knew success during his lifetime. Highlights of the Rembrandt exhibit were the "Night Watch", his masterpiece, and "The Jewish Bride", about which Van Gogh himself said he would give up 10 years of his life if he could sit in front of that painting for "2 weeks with a stale loaf of bread".
Rembrandt made over 80 self portraits, largely because he used himself as the test whenever he wanted to try a new technique, or something new with light, texture, etc.
We saw our second Academy Award of the trip, the first was at the Imperial War Museum for a documentary produced about D-Day, the second was Shelly Winters for the 1959 movie version of "Diary of Anne Frank".
After RijkMuseum we headed next door to the Heineken Brewery, we skipped the tour, since we already know how Arthur Guinness makes beer, and spent some time in the Heineken Gift Shop.
We've been to the Hard Rock Cafe four times in three days, Tom said it is the "Most American Place I've Ever Been". The weather today has gone back and forth between hard rain and very sunny. We are now on our standard afternoon break, we'll be out again soon for our final European Dinner, then home in the AM.
This may be it, maybe one more post from the Airport tomorrow if we have time.
Thanks for your support, and your comments, we've had a GREAT, GREAT, GREAT time together, but we are still ready to come home.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Venice of the North-the Weather is Here.
The forecast was for low 60's and light rain, and it did rain briefly this morning, but since 1pm it has been high 70's/low 80's and sunny here in Amsterdam.
Amsterdam is a beautiful city, and is called Venice of the North because of the vast canal system. Tom and I have been taking the Canal Bus all day to various sites. Believe it or not, they played ABBA music on the boat. We started our day with traditional Dutch Pancakes, with powdered sugar. We rode through the canals to downtown, walked around a bit, and went through the Red Light District, not sure I've ever seen more long-haired American college aged kids. The Red Light District is really a few side streets between 2 main roads right in central Amsterdam near the train station. Outside of that area it is very nice, and even there during the day it is pure tourist attraction, I have read that it definitely gets shady at night. (We won't be going back).
After that we again took the canal bus past Anne Frank's house, but the line was long, so we will head back there first thing in the morning. Instead we visited the Van Gogh Museum, which was great. They have 200+ of Van Gogh's 800 paintings, inlcuding the famous masterpieces, "The Bedroom", "Wheatfield with Crows", "Self-Portrait", "Sunflowers" and many more. They also have more than 600 of his roughly 1,000 drawings.
Along the canals, there are many houseboats, we've been told there are about 2,500 in Amsterdam, but they currently have a freeze on any new houseboat moorings. There are bikes, bikes and more bikes. At the train station there is a four story parking deck- for bikes. It is also the most challenging place to cross the street, there is a sidewalk, a bike lane, a car lane, and a tram lane. So to go across 1 street you need to look for bikes, cars and trams one way, then you are in the middle of the street and you need to now look for trams, cars, and bikes. There are almost no curbs, so most of the time I end up in the bike or car lanes while I still think I am on the sidewalk. Tom, of course, has this mastered and thinks I have some sort of street-crossing disability.
We just enjoyed a late afternoon snack at the Hard Rock Cafe, directly across from our Hotel, and are now taking our afternoon break. Later we may walk through VondelPark, their Central Park, which is right next to the hotel.
Tomorrow we head to Anne Frank's house in the morning, and Rijkmuseum in the afternoon, then a good nights rest for our trip home on Tuesday.
See You All Soon,
Kevin and Tom
Amsterdam is a beautiful city, and is called Venice of the North because of the vast canal system. Tom and I have been taking the Canal Bus all day to various sites. Believe it or not, they played ABBA music on the boat. We started our day with traditional Dutch Pancakes, with powdered sugar. We rode through the canals to downtown, walked around a bit, and went through the Red Light District, not sure I've ever seen more long-haired American college aged kids. The Red Light District is really a few side streets between 2 main roads right in central Amsterdam near the train station. Outside of that area it is very nice, and even there during the day it is pure tourist attraction, I have read that it definitely gets shady at night. (We won't be going back).
After that we again took the canal bus past Anne Frank's house, but the line was long, so we will head back there first thing in the morning. Instead we visited the Van Gogh Museum, which was great. They have 200+ of Van Gogh's 800 paintings, inlcuding the famous masterpieces, "The Bedroom", "Wheatfield with Crows", "Self-Portrait", "Sunflowers" and many more. They also have more than 600 of his roughly 1,000 drawings.
Along the canals, there are many houseboats, we've been told there are about 2,500 in Amsterdam, but they currently have a freeze on any new houseboat moorings. There are bikes, bikes and more bikes. At the train station there is a four story parking deck- for bikes. It is also the most challenging place to cross the street, there is a sidewalk, a bike lane, a car lane, and a tram lane. So to go across 1 street you need to look for bikes, cars and trams one way, then you are in the middle of the street and you need to now look for trams, cars, and bikes. There are almost no curbs, so most of the time I end up in the bike or car lanes while I still think I am on the sidewalk. Tom, of course, has this mastered and thinks I have some sort of street-crossing disability.
We just enjoyed a late afternoon snack at the Hard Rock Cafe, directly across from our Hotel, and are now taking our afternoon break. Later we may walk through VondelPark, their Central Park, which is right next to the hotel.
Tomorrow we head to Anne Frank's house in the morning, and Rijkmuseum in the afternoon, then a good nights rest for our trip home on Tuesday.
See You All Soon,
Kevin and Tom
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