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Published: April 2nd 2014
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An early start to get back into the city centre again today so we could get to Anne Frank House. Arriving about 8:45 we only had about 20 minutes wait in line to get in which was great considering we had been reading about wait times of an hour or more. Once inside, the museum was quite good, telling a story as you move through the rooms before you go through to the secret annex where the family actually hid. It is spread over 2 floors with a few small rooms on each and living with 8 people for two years would have been
very tight. The only time they could even see outside was through a small window in the attic. Amazing to think that after all that, they were eventually caught anyway. Such a sad story told through the eyes of a young girl really makes you more grateful for what you have. You then move on into the rest of the museum which tells the rest of the story and poses the question "which of the basic human rights takes precedence?" We should all have the right to freedom of speech, freedom of belief and freedom from discrimination.
But should people be
allowedto express a discriminatory belief? Food for thought...
Off to discover the rest of Amsterdam (yes on our last day here!) we took the free walking tour. Starting at Dam square, we saw the royal palace which is never used by royalty but sometimes has important dignitaries staying there. The drizzle then began but we braved it and kept going. It soon began to get very cold and the rain turned to ice on our hands. Part snow, part ice – is this what they call sleet? It didn’t last long and we entered through a tiny archway into an open square surrounded by buildings where the world’s first stock exchange began allowing international traders to spread the risk of trading with far off lands on the open seas. Through another tiny archway, we discovered an entire enclosed garden square which used to be the home of a group of women who practiced the life of nuns but never took their vows. The area was accessed through closed doorways but which were actually open to the public if you know where to go. On past the café from the movie Ocean’s 12 to
the original men’s prison which is now shopping mall (and so still punishing men). The last squatters apartment blocks in Amsterdam are brightly painted and are still housing their residents completely free of charge. Along the external wall of the main Amsterdam museum, a selection of the old gable stones are displayed, These stones were set into the gables of the businesses showing what they did in a time when the ability to read was far less common than today. Inside, we warmed up while viewing a painting of old Amsterdam showing the old market square along the canal. We crossed the widest bridge, tried local cheese, saw the narrowest house and also the smallest house which has a bit of a story. Apparently a coachman one day expressed that he would be happy with a house just the size of his master’s front door so the master built it for him. Across the canal is the widest house in Amsterdam and since they used to be taxed on their street frontage, this guy must have been supporting half the bureaucracy!
Wandering around the old city you begin to notice that many of the houses lean outward and this
was apparently to make more floor space on top floors so they could keep more goods high up above the water level. We also wandered past the Rembrandt statue and sculptural representation of his famous painting “The Nightwatch”, Rembrandt’s house and some of the old city towers. The Waag or weigh house used to be where the goods were brought into the country, weighed and taxed and then sent onto their destinations elsewhere. Blood street is nearby and is named for the ‘blood of christ’ as it was traditionally a religious area. The jewish quarter is also just across the road and is now all 60’s style buildings as the old buildings were torn down during an exceptionally cold winter just after WW2 when people needed wood to burn for heat. Through Chinatown and into the red light district, our guide tells us that both prostitution and cannabis are not exactly legal in Amsterdam as most seem to believe but they are “seen through the fingers” (as in cover your eyes and peek through your fingers). They feel that as long as it is not hurting people, and it’s good for business, then thy will tolerate it. The red light
area looks pretty much the same but there are rows of glass doors along the ground floor through which you can see a small cubicle with a chair. Our guide explained that all the women are their own businesses, and they rent time in the window. Clients wander along the rows of windows and make their selection, the lady chooses whether to open the door, a price is negotiated and their business is ‘transacted’. The funny part is that all the windows face inward surrounding a large Catholic church right in the middle!
After the tour, we walked back to the bibliotheek (library) and went up to the 7
th floor food hall for a delicious slice of apple pie and coffee. On the way back, we managed to find an electrical store and Mel searched out a $10 sandwich toaster – even though it wasn’t even on display! Bargain hunter extraordinaire and her plan is to make us eat toasted sandwiches for dinner in the hotel rooms to save money on dinners…
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