Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Amsterdam

While in the Netherlands we did visit Amsterdam. It was such a mixed bag!

First we visited the Anne Frank House (above) where we got to walk through the actual secret annex where her family hid. It was hard to believe we were actually in that very place where she kept the famous diary. One thing I loved about the museum is that they didn't give any 3rd-person explanations. Everything was explained using quotes from Anne Frank's diary.
Then it was off to the red light district. Yes, the lights are actually red. And yes, the ladies are selling their services from windows along the streets. It was one of the most disturbing things I could imagine. Now, I unfortunately don't have to imagine it anymore. And because of the following photo, neither do you...
credit to Becky for this photo
We also saw many "coffee shops," which don't actually serve coffee. I'll just say that we couldn't escape the smell of what they were serving.
Above is an example of a block of Amsterdam houses (this one happens to be the back of the Anne Frank block).

And a word about the food... We had the most amazing spare ribs in the universe. We loved them so much we went to the same restaurant the next night. No photos of that, but here's a photo of a gorgeous pastry and a photo of the famous Holland cheese.

2 comments:

Jared said...

Oh how I wish I was there! You both are so lucky.

Jennie said...

You are so brave, I think I would have avoided the Red Light district all together! The museum and food sound amazing though :)