Day: March 17, 2007

This is the continuation of our trip through western Europe last week with my parents. In this post, we will travel to Amsterdam, Netherlands for a couple days of exploration.
As you probably are aware, the Netherlands is known for it’s bountiful windmills. This one greeted us on our way into town.

We began our exploration of Amsterdam with a walking tour. It’s a great city to tour by foot, or even better by bicycle. It was the most bicycles I’ve seen since we were in China.

As you probably also know, most of Amsterdam is below sea level and their dikes regulate the water levels so that the canals flow in concentric half circles through the city.

We watched this guy meander across the street.

The Netherlands is also very densely populated. It has about the same population as Florida, but is only about the same size as Maryland. So, suffice it to say that space is an issue. To solve that concern, there are many small vehicles there. Here’s just one example…

Again, let me stress that everyone rides a bike in Amsterdam. In fact, you can see people doing all kinds of interesting things as they ride along. It’s not uncommon at all to watch people talk on their cell phone and ride (how dangerous is that!?). This guy was actually typing an SMS message as he rode and hardly even looking up. Fortunately for him, the bike lanes are very wide…

Next stop was the house/warehouse where a young Anne Frank and her family hid for 2 years in WWII (June 12, 1944 – August 1, 1944). It is a poignant memorial to the girl whose diary has been sold 25 million times in over 50 languages and is certainly considered one of the classics of the 20th century. It was her life goal to be a famous, published author. It’s sad it was posthumously achieved. However, she gave a face and story to the untold suffering of the millions caught in the Nazi web of persecution and concentration camps effecting the “final solution.”
Before we visited the secret annex of the Anne (and seven others), we watched the 1959 movie about her struggle that also won the best picture Academy Award.
This is the front side, which is the warehouse where her father owned a spice/preserve company. When the family decided to go into hiding, it was in a carefully guarded secret annex in the back.

We also visited the Rijksmuseum Art and History museum. If you are a fan of the great Dutch masters like Rembrandt, Vermeer, Frans Hals or Jan Steen, this is the place to go. Unfortunately, pictures are not allowed inside, but the trees were just budding and a work of art themselves.

Here are some more of the quintessential Dutch items from the Netherlands:
Wooden shoes
Tulips
Heineken Beer
Windmills
Herring Sandwiches
Of course, there aren’t as many windmills anymore, and wooden shoes are still used as a long lasting work shoe, but these days are used more as a souvenir than practical footwear. That said, the other three are VERY common. We decided to sample a raw herring sandwich…

Yum…

Another fascinating trade often practiced in Amsterdam is diamond cutting and polishing. We toured one company to see how the process works.
This is the diamond being polished.

Then, he inspects each facet to ensure perfection.

There were also other diamond colors like this black one.

That night, we wandered through another famous part of Amsterdam, the Red Light district. It was a unique experience to wander through areas where the world’s oldest profession is on display legally and openly.


We also took a night cruise to see the canals first hand.

So, that completed our brief tour of the city of Amsterdam. Anna and I look forward to going again soon when the tulips are in bloom. Perhaps I will have some more images to share with you.
The next stops on our tour with my parents were Luxembourg and Belgium.
So, until then…
–Jim