Amsterdam Day 2
Exploring the City
Our second day in Amsterdam we left wide open since the first day was scheduled out. We wanted the space to allow us to do whatever we felt we wanted to or needed to do once we got a sense of the city and discovered what it had to offer. Was there a museum that was recommended we must see, or a local spot that needed to be experienced to feel the “real Amsterdam.”
We heard from some of the locals, the Jordaan neighborhood was an area that was worth a stroll. We defiantly had some food spots on our list that were must hits as well. We often travel with our stomachs and we had plenty of recommendations from friends and searches of things we had to try.
After the late rain the night before, we awoke to a very pleasing forecast again. Another springlike day with very little chance of rain.
A Diary of a Young Girl
The walk down to Jordaan was about 20 mins and taking the meandering network of bridges and canals routes through smaller streets is always more pleasant than the larger main connectors with traffic, crowds and noise. These bridges and streets also offer picturesque shots of Amsterdam that are hard to pass up, with colorful flowers and draping cypress trees growing along the edges of the canals you really have to be prepared to capture the moment or it will pass. In the distant we could see a large steeple and hear a bell ringing. We knew that we were getting closer to the unfortunately famous residence of Amsterdam, that of Anne Frank and her family.
The reverance of this location is not lost on us, even with the long queues of people lining us to enter the doors of the museum. The facade of the museum did catch us off guard as we were not expecting such a modern looking building, with with widows along the second floor that gave the views of the coffee shops and gift store inside. We did not have tickets to enter, as they are sold out weeks in advance and our trip planning only started a few weeks ago. However, we did know that around the corner from this entrance, preserved for posterity was the actual house the Franks hide in during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam during the Second World War. A small brass plaque affixed to the building is all that denotes its significance. The story, captured in first person is a gripping expression of human emotions in the face of unimaginable conditions of man-inflicted cruelty. The Diary of a Young Girl.
Across a canal and over a few bridges we came upon the Tulip Museum which had the most beautiful variety of flowers growing out front. Inside there were bulbs of all types for sale as well. Wanting to bring some home with us, we inquired about the customs regulations and discovered that not until the tulips are in full season to they become legal to import and that wasn’t for another couple of months. So unfortunately, no one will be getting tulip bulbs for gifts on our return, but we did try. We did however find the Amsterdam Cheese Museum which was full of wheels of hundreds of varieties of cheeses. The best part was all the samples that were out. If you ever want to get tired of sampling cheese, then visit this place. Fingers crossed that the cheese we purchased does make it home with us before break into it during one of our long train rides. With foot to cobblestone we kept walking and at each turn discovered more and more of what we were loving about Amsterdam, there was seemed to be an never ending collection of small shops, boutiques and individuals with stories to tell and something to give. Like the nice man who ran this vintage boutique shop, that just happened to open the shop today for a special client that was coming in later and ended up talking with the girls for an hour while they tried on tops and jackets before selecting a vintage 90’s blazer jacket that looked amazing and took Olive one step closer to local status.
