A day in Amsterdam

Thursday, 5th June

After a leisurely breakfast we walked along a couple of residential streets to the bus station and 20 minutes later we were in the city. This was the first visit for any of us to Amsterdam so first stop was the information office to collect a map then coffee time to study the map. The city is full of tiny streets and canals but we found our way very well, even though it took us some time as we window shopped and people watched on our way. The first stop was the church beside the Anne Frank House. The church itself was not elaborate but it had an awesome pipe organ and taped music playing. We had been warned that the queues for the Anne Frank House can sometimes be 2-3 hours long and it was best to visit first thing in the morning or late in the evening. However, not us, we arrived there right on mid-day. Peter estimated the queue to be 2 hours and I estimated 10 minutes and we were at the ticket office in 11 minutes. It just shows not to follow Pete's instructions and move on! For me, I think the visit to this property is one of the most memorable we have had on this holiday so far. I had read the book when I was at school but must now try and see if it is on DVD or video. The house was well set up with videos running, wall plaques, and photos. The stairs to the secret annex where the family lived are extremely narrow and you could almost feel what it was like to be one of the eight people living there. It was extremely sad to know that with all their efforts they were eventually located, and placed in concentration camps and Anne died just one month before liberation and of the eight only her father survived.

From here we bought lunch at a local bakery type shop and enjoyed sitting in one of the parks for relaxation before heading off again, this time to the Heinenken Museum. This was to be one of the highlights for Peter as Cam had visited the Heinenken Museum with his host father some years ago and had sent us a video of their visit. Unfortunately luck was not with us. After walking across the city we found the museum shut for renovations until the summer (apparently September). This was a big disappointment but nothing anyone could do about it.

So to rest the weary feet, next on the agenda was a canal trip. There are many canals within the city and we had walked along a number of them. The trip was 1 1/4 hours and there were only us and four monks with a female friend on the boat. It travelled along a number of the canals, both the main ones and smaller ones, and the driver was very experienced at turning his long boat to get around the narrow corners. The canals are lined with houseboats and the avenues with trees. I can't remember the number of bridges spanning the canals but it is in the hundreds and they are quite low so the boat only just fitted through.

As we are old hands at public transport now, we next caught a tram across the city (to save the sore feet) to the flower market and a stop for a much needed Heinenken by some of our party!

The final visit for the day was to the Red Light area - none of us were much impressed. We were more interested in the "Coffee Shops" which don't actually have coffee as their main fare but cannabis and other drugs. It was interesting to see cannabis starter kits available for sale in shops and also the flower market.

We have been amazed at the number of bikes in Belgium and Amsterdam. It is the most common method of transport and the bikes, appear to us, as being very old fashioned. Many of the bikes had child seats, some with two or three so we thought this would be a method of transport to kindy that Roanne could take up. The cyclists have a very upright method of sitting on the bikes and we felt some sympathy for their bottoms as the roads are cobble stone and must cause trememdous bouncing as they ride along. Although we have considered hiring bikes, so far we have resisted. There are bike parking areas in addition to the huge number of bikes placed along the roadsides and bridges etc. One parking area had bike parking frames for some 4000 bikes. There are apparently 750,000 people in Amsterdam Central and some 1,000,000 bikes.

After dinner we were back on that wonderful public transport and home!

The internet connection is not very strong and we have been unable to upload some photos - will try again later in the day.