Amsterdam Day 3! High on "life"

I've been kind of digging the breakfast at this hostel. Amsterdam is known for pancakes and they have the yummiest mini pancakes and a chocolate fountain! They also have yummy sandwich ingredients haha so I have that for breakfast. 

Today we were able to go and visit the Anne Frank house which was a really special and sombering experience. Before we toured the house, we were given a lecture about Anne Frank by one of the ladies that works for the museum. I learned a lot about Anne and who she was. We talked about how there were 8 people in the secret annex. We learned about what their daily routine looked like - they were on a tight schedule because they had to ensure that they were not discovered by the people working below them. And we also talked about how they were helped by friends of Otto Frank. It made me reflect on how even through so many horrors and atrocities, there were moments of brightness and good people. Anne Frank was so young but she was so eloquent and wise beyond her years. It makes me incredibly sad to think about the unfairness of her life being cut short. I am grateful that we have her record and that in some way she was able to fulfill her dream of being a writer. After the lecture we went into the museum and the actual annex where they hid. There was an audio tour that helped guide us through and told us about each of the rooms. It was humbling and saddening to see where they lived and hid for over 3 years. The floor was extremely creaky, which I’m sure has worsened over time, but I just kept thinking about how scared they must have been to make a single noise. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, which I was very grateful for, but we were able to take some pictures outside in front of the plaque that marks the house. 

After that we headed to a museum called Our Lord in the Attic which is the oldest and most well preserved catholic attic church in the Netherlands. Basically, Catholicism was banned in the Netherlands for a while, but they were allowed to have churches and hold services in their houses. So this wealthy merchant built an entire chapel in his attic. It was another audio tour that you could go through at your own pace. We got to walk through the house and see that and then you could get up to see the chapel which was kind of insane. The house was really cool, there was the cutest Dutch tiling in the kitchen that had a bunch of different figures on it. The chapel itself was really incredible especially since it was literally in an attic. There was beautiful artwork as well, and a really cool view from the windows. 

Obviously after going to church you have to uncleanse yourself, so we headed to the Red Light district! Our directors turned us loose and told us to find the best drugs and prostitutes. Just kidding! We went to find the commemoration of some super cool women! There was weed and sex shops everywhere though it was kind of crazy. I hate the smell of weed I had a headache the whole time. We talked about Alida Bosshardt who joined the Salvation Army when she was 18, saved dozens of Jewish children from the Nazis, ministered to the homeless, addicts, and prostitutes, and even opened the first Goodwill center in Amsterdam. She’s pretty BOSS. Here’s a pic of me with her statue haha. 

Next we talked about Bet van Beerenbrug, who had a cafe that was a safe haven for the LGBTQ community during WWII. We visited her cafe and talked about how she would protect people by warning them about when the Nazis were in town. She was actually friends with Alida Bosshardt which is pretty cool. 

The last woman we talked about was Aletta Jacobs (pronounced YAH-cobs). I wrote an entire blog post about her so you can read that for more info, but basically she was a girl boss who paved the way for women in the medical field and opened the first birth control clinic in the world. How cool is that? I got a pic in front of her house. 

From the Red Light district we headed over to the Jewish quarters. We were stopped as a group talking at a monument when we got reprimanded by the police because apparently you need a permit to talk in groups on the street? But it was confusing because at first he was like no more than 15 people so Dr Hegstrom was like ok we’ll just split into two groups and then he switched and said no you need a permit for any talking as a group. So we just walked and Dr Hegstrom pointed. We stopped at a Jewish resistance fighters monument for a few minutes and there was a really pretty view behind it. The scripture on the monument says:

Jeremiah 9:1 - “Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.”

We kept walking and saw a lot of “stumbling stones” which are bronze stones in the cobblestone in front of houses with the names of the Jewish people that lived there who were killed during the Holocaust. There was so many of them. And then our last stop of the day was at the Namenmonument, which I had already stopped at a few days earlier. This monument has the names of over 102,000 Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust. This time I got pictures of some of the names, Goldman, because that was Grammy’s maiden name. 

Then we were set free until our canal cruise at 8pm. I headed off in search of a lunch to pack for our day tomorrow (bike riding through the national park in Apeldoorn!). I went to Albert Heijn which is a chain grocery store here that I love because it reminds me of an American grocery store haha. I ended up getting a delicious tomato mozzarella basil focaccia bread thing for dinner, and then I got some chips and hazelnut chocolate for my lunch. I decided that I was going to just make myself a little sandwich at breakfast to pack haha. Saving money! And also there’s no fridge and I wanted something fresh. 

After I got back to the hostel I just lounged around for a bit until it was time to leave for the canal cruise. We ended up with basically everyone else on the tram haha we all had the same timing. The cruise was beautiful, but I don’t think anything can beat the Seine River. It was also enclosed so we couldn’t be out in the fresh air and really take it in. But still amazing of course! I sat with Sammy, Sayler, and Molly, and we had a blast. 

After the cruise, a group of the girls decided that they wanted to go back to the Red Light district to see what it was like at night. Molly, Ellie, and I were with them originally and then decided that we’d rather go to the grocery store. Molly said she could just hear her mom’s voice in her head saying “why in the world would you go there” hahaha. (The gift of fear mom!) So we went back to Albert Heijn and I ended up getting some strawberries to add to my lunch tomorrow. Of course I had to taste them and ohh my gosh were they good. Strawberries here are actually incredible. There was also some cutie heart shaped bread at the store. All in all a good (safe) night! And all of the girls made it back from the Red Light district unscathed.