My Second Day in Amsterdam

Day 4 (Thursday 28th June 2007)


I got up early this morning and took the tram back to the Dam, then strolled across to the Anne Frank House, checking out the Grachtengordel (The "Canal Girdle", the 3 most popular canals) on the way. Although I've never read the Diary of Anne Frank I knew the basic story, but actually being there affected me far more than I thought it would. Anne Frank was 13 when the family went in to hiding, and 15 when she died. I am a teacher in a middle school, and all my students are between 13 and 15, so that really brought it home to me.

I was a bit surprised at just how popular the Anne Frank House really is. I got there 10 minutes before it opened for the day and was still at the end of a queue of 25-30 people, and by the time I left two hours later the queue stretched around the block.

The battery in my camera was going flat, so I came back to my hotel room to recharge it, only to discover my charger is missing. I'm hoping I left I it in the hotel in Singapore, in which case I should get it back on the way home, but I'll still have to try and buy another one in the meantime. Since I was here anyway I decided to write this, but now I'm off to look for a charger and an internet cafe.

[Later the same day]

No luck with the internet cafe but I did manage to find a charger. After that I went to the Van Gogh Museum which was fascinating. His style really changed over a short number of years, and they explain why that was and put in into context of the art movements before and after which is really interesting. The other thing I didn't know was that he didn't start painting until he was 29, managed to paint 900 paintings in 8 years, and then died at the age I am now.

Dinner was Tapas in a Spanish restaurant. Italian restaurants seem to be the most popular over here, but I'm avoiding them as I'm spending a week in Italy in two weeks time. The other thing that's popular is Indonesian, a throwback to the time when the Dutch East India Company controlled Indonesia, but living in Darwin I'm becoming a regular visitor to Bali so I'm trying to steer clear of Indonesian too. The only authentic Dutch food I've had so far was a beef stew that was basically Irish Stew with the vegies left out, and not very interesting. I did have some of the hand made Dutch chocolates, and they were superb, and I'm going to make sure I hit a cheese shop before I go as well.


Day 5 (Friday 29th June 2007)

It's only 8.30am and it's overcast, cold and windy outside, so I'm in no rush to venture out yet. I still need to find an internet cafe so I can post this, and if the sun would come out I haven't had a chance to just sit quietly at a cafe that has outside tables beside a nice section of the canal yet. I saw a sign for wireless internet at a cafe near the Anne Frank House yesterday, so I might head back there, and then take a wander along the Prisengracht, which is supposed to be the nicest of the canals.