Tour Anne Franks House

The Diary of Anne Frank was one of my favorite books growing up.  I have always been fascinated about learning about the Holocaust and have visited Schindler's Factory and Auschwitz in Poland. 

For those not familiar with Anne Frank, she was a young girl who went into hiding along with her family in 1942, specifically hiding in secret rooms in her father's office building in Amsterdam.  She detailed her experiences in her famous diary throughout the two years they were in hiding.

In 1944, they were found and transported to a concentration camp where she later died from typhus.  She was 15 years old, and died a few weeks before British Troops liberated the camp.

Her father was the sole survivor of the family, and published Anne's diary in 1947.  Her diary has now sold more than 30 million copies and has been translated in over 60 languages.

Her famous house where the diary was written is open for public viewing.

 The outside of Anne Frank's House

During a rainy day in Amsterdam I decided to visit Anne Frank's House.  I had heard the lines were hideously long, but because of the rain the lines were much shorter than I expected.  Tickets to enter the museum were roughly $12 USD.  If you booked online ahead of time you could skip the long lines and enter through a separate entrance.  Photos are not permitted inside the house.

Visiting the house was a somber experience, and most people remained silent while walking through the house.  The most memorable part of my visit was walking up the narrow steep steps behind the movable bookcase that I remembered vividly from the book.

The highlight of the museum was not what I saw, but how it made me feel while walking through the secret annex where 8 people hid for 2 years.  If you have read the book it can definitely be a moving and somber experience.

The canals around the museum are also quite lovely, and if that's not enough to encourage you to visit then I don't know what is!

Date Accomplished:  October 19th, 2011

Take A Photo With The I Amsterdam Sign

Probably one of the most noticeable landmarks in Amsterdam is the I Amsterdam sign.  One morning I decided to venture out to find the sign.  It wasn't walkable from my hostel, so I decided to try taking the metro.  It was quite easy and I took the metro stop closest to the Rijksmuseum which is right behind the I Amsterdam sign.  

Because I came pretty early in the morning there were not too many tourist taking over the area.  It also ended up being the prettiest day I had in Amsterdam.  It wasn't raining and the sun was out!  Let there be light, Amsterdam!

Remember the little girl in Schindler's List with the red coat combined with the black and white frame?  That's what the I Amsterdam sign kind of reminded me of,  and it is kind of fitting since it is the home of Anne Frank's house. 

It certainly wasn't the most exciting life list item, but it was definitely cool to see after seeing it in so many photos over the years.  Combine this with a visit to the Rijksmuseum to make the trip worthwhile. 

Date Accomplished:  October 21st, 2011

Bike Through The Countryside In Holland

Riding a bike in Holland (particularly Amsterdam) is a more common site than seeing a car drive by.  I think everyone owns a bike in Holland.  There might quite possibly be more bikes than people in Amsterdam.  They don't have parking garages for cars, they have parking garages for bikes....

A Bike Parking Garage by Central Station

After flying for what felt like eternity I finally arrived on an early morning in Amsterdam.  After hauling my backpack through the airport, train stations, and walking to my hostel I was pooped.  My room was not ready, so I had to store my backpack in a locker, and then it was time to decide what to do.  I'm not gonna lie, I was tired.  But for me, the way to overcome jet lag and get back to a normal sleeping pattern for that time zone is to be awake throughout the day, and then take a Benadryl at night.  I should have taken it easy on my first day.  

I found a bike company online that didn't require reservations, and that ran daily bike tours out to the countryside.  I took public transportation to the bike rental place, but I had arrived a tad early so I decided to walk around and find a place to sit and enjoy my lunch.  Then it started to pour rain.  My lunch included huddling under an umbrella shielding myself from the rain in front of a dry cleaning place (oh the irony). 

After lunch I headed back to the bike place, and because of the rain it was only a small group consisting of a couple from the UK, a couple from Australia, and a gal from Canada.  We were edumacated on Amsterdam 101 before dressing into our ponchos and heading out on our 22km journey.  We first rode around the city, and I have to admit I was more afraid of all the other cyclist than the cars.  They were everywhere!

Our first stop out of the city was a windmill.  Of course I had to take a photo of how silly I looked in my hideous poncho...

Imagine that in bright red, like Teletubbie Red.  That is easily one of the top 10 most embarrassing photos of me.  Enjoy it.  Save it to your hard drive for times when you need a good chuckle.

After checking out the windmill we were back on the road, and our next stop was a clog factory and cheese farm.  We parked our bikes in a barn full of cows (more proof we really were in the country). 

We immediately stepped into a room covered with shelves of cheese.   I needed a Lactaid just looking at it. A Dutch man came out and talked about the cheese making process with us, and then we sampled the cheeses.  We then entered another room and watched wooden clogs be made.  The man was actually wearing a wooden clog and walked in them with ease.  When we went into the clog shop they had clogs of every style, and they even had some that were blank in case you were artistic enough to design your own.  Perhaps they have a Pinterest tutorial for Clog Designing?

Of course, out of curiosity I had to put a pair on.  The Verdict?  They are utterly uncomfortable.  I'll stick with my Toms, Thanks. 

When we stepped out of the factory it was pouring rain again.   We ran to our bikes and waited a bit for the rain to calm down, and once we continued it started hailing.  It felt like someone was throwing bullets onto my face.  It was painful!  The worst part was that the hail was so intense that I couldn't even open my eyes to see the path ahead of me.  Tell me again why I decided to do a 22km bike ride in the hail after a transatlantic flight?

After nearly 30 minutes of bike riding and continuous pouring we made our way to a park just outside the city.  We finally stopped, and I decided to take a photo.  I reached into my "waterproof" poncho pocket to find that it was filled to the top with water.  Inside swimming in my poncho pocket was my brand new camera!  Needless to say the camera drowned and I was unable to revive it.

We reached Vogel Park, and then back into city limits.  I was so exhausted, drained, and drenched at this point that my fear of the other cyclists had withered away.  They were probably fearing me.

Would I do it again?  Sure.  But I would follow these 3 simple rules....

1. Only sunny days so I can soak in the scenery 
2. I must be well rested, or at least highly caffeinated
3. No hideous ponchos allowed within 100 feet of historical windmills

P.S.  Three days later when I was making funeral arrangements for my camera it miraculously came back to life! Hooray!

Date Accomplished:  October 19th, 2011

Walk Through The Red Light District In Amsterdam

You're either thinking, "You are crazy to want to go to the Red Light District!" or "Hello!  You're in Amsterdam, Why wouldn't you go?!?!"  If you're part of my family then you can continue thinking I'm crazy, and to add to my crazy shenanigans I traveled to Amsterdam by myself, and stayed in a hostel with three men (who snored like they were in a harmonized glee club).

There are Red Light Districts scattered all over the world, and the most famous one being in Amsterdam.  Typically, a Red Light District is an area where prostitution and other sexual oriented activities and businesses take place.  There are several countries in the world that legalize prostitution, and the Netherlands just so happens to be one of them.

I was sane enough to not go into the Red Light District by myself, despite it being a mere 5 minute walk from my hostel.  I knew very little about the district, so I decided a walking tour at night would be the safest and best option.  I met with a small group of people, and our guide was a guy named David.  He started off giving us a history of the district, and even stopping at a Condomerie (a shop that sells only condoms, including ones shaped as The Simpsons family). 

My first view of the Red Light District

We walked by a few sex shops, old buildings and churches (really!), and everything up to that point was pretty lackluster and not any different from what I would see back home.  Then David stopped us and told us, "Okay guys, we're going into the district now, you will see women in the windows, and whatever you do, do NOT take pictures of them!  They will take your camera and smash it to bits, trust me, I have seen it happen!"

Some things I learned....

• Historically, they used red lights because it hides blemishes and overall makes the skin look flawless.  Remind me to find a red-lit restaurant the next time I am on a date.

• If you see a blue lit window with a woman standing in it....psst...guess what...it is not a woman.

• The oldest prostitute actively working is in her 80's. I say "You Go Girl!"

The women overall were attractive women, and we even walked through a very narrow street that supposedly hosts the most beautiful women of the district. The women danced in the windows, and pointed at men to lure them to their windows. If you saw an empty window with the red neon lights turned on that meant she was busy "working."  I saw men heavily negotiate with women, and other men coming out of the windows quickly struggling to get their pants back on. 

David then asked us, "Do you want to see a peep show?  It's 2 euros for 2 minutes."   Some people eagerly said yes while I shook my head no.  He told us he could get couples and pairs of girls into one room for the price of one, however solo guys would have to go into the rooms by themselves.  One of the girls in the group looked at me and said, "Come on!  I don't want to go by myself!" So I agreed to go without really knowing what I had agreed to.  The girl and I went into a small room (more like a closet) that had only a frosted window and a little machine to drop our money.  We put in a Euro each and suddenly the frosted window came down.  In front of me was a revolving bed with a couple having sex...like LIVE sex...and to top it off they were looking right at us!    We were mortified that they could see us, and not only could we see them, but we could see every single person watching too!  Oh, and some of them weren't just watching, they were pleasing themselves!

We both agreed that it was the longest two minutes of our lives.  I spent the last few moments staring at the ceiling because either I had to watch this couple look at me as they were having sex, or watch the nasty men being aroused by it.  When it was all over the first thing I said was, "I need a drink."  The Gods of the Red Light District must have heard me because as soon as the tour ended a few of us went to a bar nearby for some drinks.  David got us a Jagger shot, and I began mingling with complete strangers.  One of the strangers I met was a guy from California who was traveling around Europe for a few months.   He asked me what I did for a living, and I told him "I work as a nurse for kids with cancer."  He then tells me, "That's nice, I'm a porn movie producer.  The last movie I produced was Squirting Cheerleaders Part 5 (that wasn't the exact title, but it was something to that effect!)"  I tried to read his face to see if he was joking, but he was completely serious!

After a few drinks me, David, and porno guy headed to another bar to meet up with a few of David's friends.  There I met Aussie Julian and a real crazy hippie guy from Ohio.   We enjoyed a few drinks, until we were forced to listen to the porno guy and hippie guy vigilantly talk about the Paul McCartney conspiracy.  So when the porno guy went to the bathroom, me, David and Julian made our great escape that ended my first Red Light District experience!  Moderately intoxicated, I somehow managed to find my way back to my hostel, after only stopping to have the best French Fries ever!

The Red Light District isn't any more dangerous than any other city I have visited.  In fact, I was never harassed by any gypsies, and I was approached by more drug dealers in Portugal than I was in Amsterdam!  

P.S.  A few days later I ended up seeing Aussie Julian again!  He went up to me and said, "The weird guy (porno guy) from the other night is right behind you!"  I turn around, and heck, he was right, there he was!  Talk about a small world....

Date Accomplished:  October 19th, 2011