Amsterdam Day 2

We definitely stayed busy today!

Canal

Look at (part) of the breakfast spread at our hotel!

Canal

Canal

Canal selfie

We had tickets for the Anne Frank House this morning.

Anne Frank House Museum
You have to order these online well in advance as they tend to sell out. We walked from our hotel and were a bit early getting to the museum so we wandered around the area some and then had some drinks at a pancake shop.

Now the Anne Frank House is another one of those places that doesn’t allow any photography. I only snuck one pic. This is the house where Anne Frank, her family, and some family friends hid out from the Nazis from 1942-1944. They lived in some rooms behind where her father worked, having to stay very quiet to keep from being discovered. The entrance to their living quarters was hidden by a bookcase which blocked the door. She kept a diary of her thoughts and experiences during this time. She died in 1945 in the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp.

Anne Frank’s Concentration Camp Card

The only surviving member of her family was her father, Otto, who later published her diary, which had been saved by one of the people who helped hide her family. If you haven’t read the book you need to. I was here when I was 10. I had definite memories of the narrow, steep staircases and the bookcase blocking the entrance. The museum has annexed buildings next to the house and that part looks very different.

Door to the actual house

Near the Anne Frank house is the small Tulip Museum. Our Amsterdam City Passes covered entry so we checked it out. Weird fact: tulips are actually from the middle east and Asia. Seriously, like Iraq and Turkey. The museum is ok, but probably not worth the 5 euro entry. They have a nice shop in the front of it where you can buy bulbs and tulip-related products.

Canal

Flower shop

Westerkerk (Rembrandt is buried somewhere in here)

Our passes also covered a canal cruise, which is a great way to sight-see while sitting. We then walked back towards our hotel to have lunch, pick up our suitcases, and head to the ship. We were able to drop everything off and get in some more sightseeing.

Canal Cruise

Canal Cruise

Next we headed to the Allard Pierson Museum, an archaeological museum affiliated with the University of Amsterdam. They have various Egyptian, Greek, and Roman artifacts…not a bad collection. They are also running an exhibition about European migration during the Middle Ages, which was quite good. Not a large museum, but worth seeing if you like archaeology.

Mummy and sarcophagus

Figurines

Kitty

Mosaic

Pot

From there we went to the Rembrandt House Museum. Rembrandt lived in this house from 1639-1656. Many of his paintings were done here.

Kitchen

Rembrandt’s studio…recreated based on his own drawings of it

We ended at the Oude Kerk. This is Amsterdam’s oldest building, dating to 1213. Interestingly, the red light district of Amsterdam is right there with it. Rembrandt’s children were christened here and his wife, Saskia, was buried here. Apparently the church is essentially in the same state it was when Rembrandt was around. It has the largest medieval wooden vault in Europe. It was odd to look way up and see a wooden ceiling. There are also 2 very tall spiral staircases.

Wooden Ceiling

Spiral staircase

grave marker on the floor

Wooden ceiling

Grave marker

We ended our day getting settled on the boat. As we have found on our previous cruises with AmaWaterways, our room is very nice, as it the food.

Weed seed

Red light