Amsterdam (I'll think of a better title later)

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After a fitful night's sleep, we set out this morning from the hotel for the Anne Frank house, the musem and old house where Anne Frank, her family and acquaintances hid from the occupying forces in the Second World War. They hid for two year, which to me is utterly amazing - imagine not leaving your house for two years, not seeing proper daylight for two years, having to be quiet for most of the day... The house itself is unfurnished now, per the wishes of Otto, Anne's father, but it still gives you a sense of the space in which those folks were stuck. i did fairly well for myself, until they show a video of Otto, speaking about his experiences in coming out of the concentration camps, and realising that he was the only survivor... And then to discover that his daughter's diary had been kept, along with other papers. He said that in reading them it was like discovering an in re Anne that no one knew, and that no parent ever really knows their child... And at that point it took putty much everything in me to hold back the tears.



When we were done there, we headed off to the Begijnhof (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begijnhof,_Amsterdam), an old courtyard in Amsterdam that started life as a nunnery and now features the English Reform Church, where we had
a short rehearsal, lunch, and a quick concert. For a concert in a small church in the middle of the city, it was pretty well attended and our reception was pretty good. The acoustic in the church was a definite change from what we're used to, but it was a joy to sing in it. And of course, we're in a place with real, tangible humidity, and that always makes singing so much easier!



After the concert, AB, EM and I went for a bit if a wander to pick up some things from in town. EM was pretty excited to be back in a place she hadn't seen in a very long time, and was visiting old stores that she remembered, including the Dutch version if Target (HEMA), where I caved and bought a t-shirt. We also sat down on a bench and ate fries with Dutch mayo from a place called Chipsy King. Yes, that's right. Chipsy King. And it's a chain store. They were pretty good... Dutch mayo has a very slightly different taste from the Canadian stuff.



Our early evening entertainment was a canal tour, which was pretty interesting. I learned a lot about Dutch architecture. Or at least those were my biggest takeaways. Things like why the buildings seem to be tipping forward (so that if you haul cargo up it won't hit the building's facade) and why some of the houses seem ridiculously narrow (taxes were paid on the width of your frontage) and that wooden shutter signify that the place used t be a warehouse. There are about 3000 houseboats moored in the canals, and the city has had to stop issuing licenses. As a result, these old crappy houseboats are selling for a pretty penny! Perhaps the best part of the tour, however, was the audio commentary, delivered by an ostensibly old, retired couple named Nell and Ron. There was a lot if inane commentary on a lot of things from both of them interspersed through some actual tour facts. After Ron cracked a joke about loving to watch people on the beach with binoculars, we determined that 80-year old Ron still somehow had a porn-stache.



After the cruise, a few of us decided to try and wander to find a restaurant on the edge of a canal that AFin had found earlier in the day. Unfortunately she wasn't entirely sure where she had spotted it so our wander took a while. Eventually we ended up at a place called de Brabantse Aap, which wasn't entirely on the edge of a canal, but had really good beer (Die Blonde Barbier) and delicious food (I had the monkfish wrapped in prosciutto). We killed a bit of time after words at a bar called Club Nasty or something of the sort, where we downed a few Jillz (a hard apple cider that's more like a spritzer and is super girly). Crossing a square to meet some folks we found a busker who was alternating between standup bass and the mandolin - playing "Hey, Soul Sister" as we listened for a bit and then did the cheesy statue imitation thing by a statue of Rembrandt.



We killed the evening in the Red Light District. I think the coolest thing for me was how safe it all seemed. Pretty much exactly as you'd expect - super crowded (with a lot of tourists), lots of girls in the windows, lots of sex stores and sex shows on offer, but with no need to be secretive or furtive or rushed... Seemed like a pretty good setup for the girls.

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Photos

Beer by a canal in Amsterdam
(It was a Die Blonde Barbiere)

Comments

[Heather Friedenthal]

Great Blog!
Hi Kate, This is great for me to read. I so enjoy keeping up with you girls and believe me, while shopping at Save On with my two children while it poured rain outside, I was wishing I was with you! Keep having fun...