The next day we headed to Amsterdam, this time when we got out of the train we saw a huge station with people milling around purposefully, obviously knowing where they were off to. So, we did what you always do when you don't even know where the exit is, follow the majority. Once of the platform but still in the station we saw lots of shops, mainly food stalls. There was one which had this vending machine in it. It had lots of choice including burgers.
Soon we saw daylight and walked towards it which brought us out to the bustling city of Amsterdam, a bit too bustling at this point, there was traffic everywhere. With the use of a street map we decided to head for Anne Frank's house. The traffic did get less as we walked along but the streets were chockablock with tourists, so you didn't get the same relaxing feel as you did in Uterecht. We did see some interesting sights though.
Do pigs fly? Yes, they do ! This was the Body Worlds attraction, but it didn't attract me and I carried on walking.
Eventually we came to an open area where the palace was, from there we took a short cut up one of the streets. One of the shops had a job going,asking for your CV and motivation to be sent in, not sure I would want to send my motivation in, might get lost in the post!
The shortcut turned out not to be a shortcut , as we soon realised we had gone wrong with our map reading, surely not I hear you say, but yes we had. So, it was about turn and back to the palace where we managed to get our bearings and headed off. The more we got away from the centre the quieter it
did become and you could physically feel yourself relaxing more.
We wandered down and across canals and saw much of the architecture of Old Amsterdam. We also saw this restaurant with a wide and varied menu!
I really liked the painted artwork on this clock tower.
When we reached Anne Frank's museum we we were met by an enormous queue that wound down the street and round the bend. So we decided we were not going to wait and would come back for a weekend away or even try later in the day. After an hour wandering the city though we decided to go back, the queue was still long but we decided to join it. I tell you that queue would win prizes for being the slowest moving queue, when we did eventually get to the door about two hours later, there was only one person on the till to let you in.
It seemed to take forever to actually shuffle a few steps forward , so we would set ourselves goals like we want to get to that tree or that lamp post. As we waited the nearby church bells were playing which kept us amused, as we tried to guess the songs being played, they weren't what you would class as traditional church type music. Songs like, "We'll Meet Again" and the American national anthem were played. At one point David couldn't contain his excitement any longer and went for a wander, on his return he was very impressed at the two shuffles forward I had taken while he was away.
Suddenly the sky became darker and the wind picked up and then it started to spit, then rain, then pour drown. Great big droplets were splashing down on our heads. Adding to the problem was the fact that we hadn't brought jackets, but we had been stood in that queue so long we weren't moving and neither was anybody else. David decided to try and find a shop selling brollies while I stood and got wetter and wetter. Then a thunder storm started which was quite dramatic with bright flashes of lightning and deep rumbling thunder. It was so bad that car alarms were going off with the vibrations of it all. Eventually someone from AnneFranks house came out with brollies and started to hand them out. So, when a rather soggy David reappeared I was stood with an umbrella already. The wind was so bad we had to grip on tightly to the umbrella, I held on to the rim to try and stop it blowing inside out but off course the rain was running straight down the brolly onto my arms and sleeves, so I had wet sleeves for the rest of the day.
Once inside the museum it was alright but I felt they could have done more to tell Anne's story. I knew a lot about it already as I have read both Anne's diary and her father, Otto's life story. The house is basically empty of anything that had been there although the bookcase leading to the attic is still there. In one of the rooms there is a model of the attic so you can see how the furniture was placed, but this didn't give you a true feeling of how claustrophobic it must have been with so many people living together. There were a couple of video clips and a display telling you about the concentration camps and fates of all the people involved in the story. I am glad I went but I don't know if I would have waited so long, if I knew what was inside.
As the weather was so bad we headed straight back to the hotel, which strangely looked more Asian than anything we had stayed in, in Asia, where David put on his new slippers. In the morning we continued our journey onto Belgium.
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