Leaving on a trip is not so much about going as it is about escaping. Escaping from: what have I forgotten; did I leave all of the things the dog needs; have I left good information for Marla who is taking care of our home; did I remember to tell Lee and Mare about...can I do just one more errand? We escaped to the airport leaving everything to capable hands. Threatened by two storms, one in Denver and one in Minneapolis, our pilots managed to get the planes up in the air before we were delayed. In Minneapolis this meant rounding up passengers and getting them onboard 15 minutes early. Amazing!
We have been under cloudy skies since arriving in Amsterdam, but the city and the people are so fascinating we haven't minded at all. We are staying in the small Hotel Hoksbergen. Pam asked for a room overlooking the canal and we got that...only it takes four flights of stairs that would put lighthouse stairs to shame. Thankfully, the manager brought our duffels up to the room.
We quickly organized our gear and went out walking. We had some time before our tickets to the Anne Frank House, so we stopped in a cafe and had a cappucccino, then took an hour long canal tour/cruise. Amsterdam has 1,000 bridges and 100 canals. The cruise took us out to the North Sea, and through many of the city's neighborhoods.
Then it was time to return to the Anne Frank house. The tour through the empty rooms of Anne's father's factory where the family hid for two years was haunting. The house remains without furnishings because they were removed by the Nazis when the family was taken. Anne's father Otto, the only surviving member of the family, decided the rooms should remain bare. However there are pictures on the walls, several videos explaining the times, and a few scale models of the rooms as they were. Especially poignant were actual pages from Anne's diary that she had rewritten for eventual publication. The family was betrayed by someone unknown and subsequently shipped to concentration camps: Otto and his wife to Auschwitz, Anne and her sister to Bergen-Belsen, and the four others in hiding with the Franks to Auschwitz, Theresienstadt, and Neuengamme. It is believed that Anne and her sister died of typhus just one month short of liberation. When we looked at family pictures, we think of the relative safety of our own families and reflect on how blessed we are, though Anne's words written in 1944 bring us sharply to the world as we know it know. "One day this terrible war will be over. The time will come when we'll be people again and not just Jews!" Our granddaughter Olivia, now 11 years old, has never lived in a United States that was not at war.
We came out of the Frank house to see a group dancing and singing on a triangle celebrating gay people. We visited a nearby kiosk selling all kinds of knick-nacks with GLBT themes. From there we went to dinner at a restaurant Pam had selected. We were told to come back at 6:00 and, "Do you want a reservation? OK, we have one table left." The food was delicious, the service excellent, and as we were leaving, the young woman who serves as maitre d' was saying to a couple who just entered, "Dinner? You have a reservation? No. Undoable. All tables are reservated." We went home and fell into bed. I fell asleep downloading pictures from our day...ZZZzzzz
This morning (Oh, and Happy Labor Day!) we slept in a bit, had breakfast and headed off walking for the Rijksmuseum. After three years of renovation, Amsterdam's premier art museum is truly beautiful and a great place to visit. The new spaces are a perfect setting to display some of the world's greatest artists. Our visit included only The Great Hall, and we were looking for 2.5 hours. We had lunch in the dining room, and then left for the van Gogh (van Gokh to the Dutch) museum. There we had tickets to an exhibit called, "The Artist at Work," which featured a chronological exhibit, start to finish, of van Gogh the artist.
Some observations: EVERYone rides a bike, there are thousands on the streets; all streets and sidewalks are cobbled with brick; street names along canals end with Gracht, streets without canals end with Straat; everyone rides a bike (they DO!) and talk on cell phones, drink coffee, and eat while riding; the Dutch people (MY people) are very tall; the language sounds like German but is softer; most people speak excellent English; all the buildings lean toward the street (canal homes are very narrow, but deep)--they also all have a large center window or door near the roof and over that hangs a block and tackle arrangement because the front doors and windows are too narrow to get furniture through...it all is lifted off the street to the upper story door and moved about the house from there. The lean keeps furniture from scraping against the exterior and also protects a bit from the rain. Although two foot high bars were added to the front of all parking spaces (head-in parking) along canals, an average of one car per week still rolls into a canal.
Now we are at rest for a few more minutes before going off to dinner, reorganizing our duffels, and having one more sleep in our beds before we are off for our 10 hour flight to Entebbe and the safari/primate viewing/gorilla visiting part of our trip. We hope you have had a good day, and a big shout-out to Marla (brave woman) herding our dog and hers alone in the mountains.
The pictures: Pam in front of our hotel, the STAIRS (four flights of these!), a Go Car plugged and waiting, entering the Anne Frank museum, cala lillies at the flower market, leaning houses, Pam in the "dam" of I Amsterdam sculpture, the Rijks museum, and van Gogh--an early self portrait.
Location:Amsterdam, Netherlands
