We planned a fairly easy day for today beginning with a short train ride (15 minutes) to Haarlem.
Haarlem
The main square (Grote Markt) was filled with a carnival, which made us a bit sad because it is normally a beautiful square, but I did have fun taking carnival pictures.
The church, Grote Kerk (great church), was open, so we were able to go inside and see it.
(Pillar biter--warning not to go overboard with religion)
(Models of Dutch ships!)
Next back outside for a dessert breakfast of key lime pie and tea.
We continued our walk through town up to the De Adrianne (Harleem's reconstructed windmill).
A walk back to the train station (a pretty cool art nouveau building) and we were back in Amsterdam.
Amsterdam
We took the tram to the Willet-Holthuysen Museum, a canal house mansion from 1800s. This had been a museum I was sad to miss, an old period house with furnishings, and I was happy we managed to squeeze it in.
(taken earlier in the week from the Canal during our canal cruise)
From here, a real lunch down at Rokin street, savory pancakes (I had salmon on mine). I don't think I was a huge fan of this one.
We also wandered a bit around Rokin Street for some pictures.
Next we headed towards Dam Square (yes, again!) to start our walk to the Jordaan neighborhood following Rick Steves' self-guided walk.
For dinner we stopped at a restaurant along a canal.
(Aperol Spritz canalside)
(I tried stammpot aqain, this time wit carrots mixed in the mashed potatoes. Carrots did not help it any--still not a fan)
After dinner, we backtracked a bit,
until we reached Anne Frank's house (also in the Jordaan neighborhood). Entrance to the museum requires that you get timed tickets in advance. At your "time," you get in line to get into the building. We ended up being in that line for quite awhile, so definitely need to budget that in. This was our last activity for the day so luckily we didn't have any time worries.
The museum was very thought provoking and definitely worth the time. At the end of the tour they had the original journals on display. Seeing Anne's room she shared, with her wall still covered in clippings from magazines and newspapers she put there, showed all she had in common with other teenage girls. Once through her bedroom, we continued to walk through the few rooms where she and the others hiding there went about her days afraid to even make too much noise in fear they would get caught.
I felt particularly for Otto Frank, Anne's father, who first searched for his family then, after finding out they all died in concentration camps, worked to have Anne's diary published. He saved the house in which they hid, which prompted it becoming a museum. Otto was the only one who survived.
• This was really one of those ideal days for taking photos. The sky was just PERFECT all day long.
ReplyDelete• I can't believe that you didn't include a photo of that pillar/column in Haarlem's Grote Kerk that marked the heights of the church's tallest and shortest parishioners! Especially because the shortest parishioner was KILLED IN A DWARF-TOSSING CONTEST. These are the important historical anecdotes that *I* remember from our travels. :-P.
• Mmmm dessert breakfast. My favorite kind of breakfast, haha.
• There are a ton of lovely photos in this post, but you HAVE TO include Photo Nos. 33-34 on your commemorative wall for this trip. THEY'RE SO GOOD.
• We really did go to SO, SO MANY museums in Amsterdam, LOL. But I am happy that we found a place to slot the canal house. That one was neat.
• Mmmm pancakes. I feel like we had this somewhat unnecessary meal to appease me because I was becoming characteristically hangry. My pancake had honey and nuts and THREE GIANT SLABS OF GOAT CHEESE that I couldn't finish and I regret it to this day. It was amazing, though. And while I applaud you for your dedication to trying local specialties... you really should have opted for something tastier here. :-P.
• All of your photos from the Jordaan neighborhood are wonderful, too. Wasn't this the afternoon that we just sat and chilled on a bench for like an hour because it was so nice? Or maybe we did that because I was tired and it just also happened to be nice outside, LOL.
• I miss Aperol spritz. :(.
• I think I had been craving (out loud) another goat cheese salad all day, and we specifically chose this restaurant because goat cheese salad was on the menu, but after eating four pounds of straight goat cheese on that late-lunch pancake I was goat cheese-ed out, but I ordered the salad anyway on principle and was underwhelmed (as usual), and then I regretted not ordering a burger. /not an interesting story BUT IT'S WHAT I REMEMBER.
• Also frame Photo Nos. 70, 75, and 76.
• The Anne Frank house was a really sobering experience, although I wish there was a better way to see it (obviously, the single-file procession that they've implemented is the only feasible way to do it, but still...). The only negative was being stuck behind that group of people who were clearly not taking it seriously and playing on Instagram the whole time.
Tomorrow we inefficiently day-trip to Belgium!