Heading into Amsterdam from our hotel proved to be quite interesting. We had to brave the streets to get to the Texaco station so we could get tram/bus tickets, then we had to brave the streets again to get to the tram, then we had to get off the tram to catch a train (finding the right train was interesting) at the central station that would take us to Amsterdam central station, and then we had to make sure we got off that train at the right time. When I say we had to brave the streets I don't mean that this was our first time walking and crossing them. Obviously we've done that before. What was difficult and different was the bikes. There were just as many bikes as there were cars and on both sides of the road there was a lane dedicated just to the bikes.
On the train I read Ahmee's EUROPE THROUGH THE BACK DOOR book by Rick Steves. Rick Steves said that there were just as many bikes as there were people in Amsterdam. He also wrote several things that made me wary immediately. He wrote that Amsterdam was one of the places in Europe that had stores the legally sold marijuana, and that it wasn't uncommon to see someone smoking a joint on the streets. He also said that you really shouldn't approach the city as a historian; you should look more on the variety of people and the combination of cultures that occurred in Amsterdam. The thing that made me wary was that one: we were going to Amsterdam for one specific reason and that was to see Anne Frank’s house (very historic), and two: I'm with my grandparents-they don't put up with drugs. Shoot, in France they didn't even try having wine for lunch like the French people do. There was no way I was going to be going to the red light district, and I wasn't certain that Ahmee and Poppy would enjoy much of Amsterdam either what with the way Rick Steves was talking (prostitution is legal-have to have a license, marijuana is legal for people of a certain age and is sold in specific areas, and Rick Steves said that if you don't really like rap (M&M) then you might not like Amsterdam). Rick Steves can sum it up for me: "Amsterdam, a bold experiment in freedom, may box your Puritan ears."
The fact that Ahmee and Poppy were both very short with the woman at the information desk didn't help get rid of my fear either. To me it looked like we hadn't even really started the day yet and things were looking downhill.
Once in Amsterdam we hopped on a tram and watched out the window as it wound it's way quickly through the streets. A wide variety of shops met my eyes and I adored the window shopping experience.
Once we got off the tram we headed to Anne Frank’s House, or The Secret Annex, to stand in line and wait to get our tickets. The line went around the corner and down half a block. No complaints here though, I've stood in line for books before, and the lines were often MUCH longer than the one we saw there. We were in that line for maybe 15 minutes and then we were in. Of course we each took turns walking over to the canal and people watching while we waited. Amsterdam has really thin, taller buildings than some of the buildings we saw in Paris. Amsterdam also has a network of canals that runs through it. Really is quite like Venice Italy! Even though I haven't been there yet I can say that with an assurance. The people of Venice use boats like we use cars. So do the people of Amsterdam. Amsterdam is a city that runs on water and two wheels typically and so there aren't often too many traffic problems. Never in my life have I seen so many bikes in the city. When I stood at the canal I got to see bikes parked on the bridge, bikes parked along the sides of the railing, and bikes in motion while people (everyday working people-many business men and women) road wherever they needed to go. I also got to see in the canal an actor doing an advertisement (at least I think that's what they were filming). It looked like a pain to film it. Every time he'd screw up on something they'd have to back the boats up and start over again. Also had issues directing the boats and making sure they weren't taking up all of the canal. Didn't look like too much fun.
Once we got inside we read the English pamphlet on the bench and then walked slowly through the house. Something I didn't realize was that Anne had glued pictures to her wall. I know I read it in the book, but I didn't remember that. Something else that was included in the tour were clips of those who had survived talking. It had one with Miep, who told about the one time that she had walked in on Anne writing and how different Anne had seemed while she was writing. Another interview they had was one of Anne's father: Otto Frank, who was the only one out of the eight in hiding who lived. Otto said that it had taken him a long time to read Anne’s diary and that when he was done he was shocked. He had never realized that his daughter had such deep thoughts. He and Anne had always been on good terms, and the Anne that was in that diary seemed almost foreign to him. He said at the end of the clip that he felt that many parents never REALLY knew their children. Another clip showed a friend of Anne's who had been sent to a nicer camp that was right next to Anne's and how while they were in the camps she had tried to send over food and supplies to Anne twice. The first time another woman caught the bag, and the second time Anne caught it, but she never came back. Anne died of typhoid a short period after Margot died.
Another section of the museum was dedicated to racism and government issues. There was one room that showed clips and then took a poll asking people what they thought. One such poll, the last one that I saw before I got pulled out, asked whether policemen should be allowed to wear a turban (a symbol of their faith). I was astonished at first at how 80% of the people said no. Later I realized that even though it is a person’s individual right to wear whatever religious symbol they wished, police officers are members of the government who help enforce the government. Separation of church and state must be followed. It took me a while to reach this conclusion however and all throughout lunch I was silently pondering why so many people voted that no police officers shouldn't be allowed to display their faith. Ahmee later on asked me if I was done being mad at them. I was a little taken aback and I asked why I would be mad. She said because they'd taken me out of that room. I told her the truth: that I was simply thinking about the polls that disturbed me.
After visiting Anne’s house we went to two other museums: The Van Gogh Museum, where we got to see the largest collection of his works (and how his artistic talent matured and then fell), and the Rembrandt Museum, where we got to see some of the old masters. In the past I always grabbed an audioguide. This time I simply wanted to look and admire the works of art.
We keep revisiting Van Gogh exhibits, but this one I liked particularly because we got to see what Van Gogh admired in art, the phases he went through, and we got to read about his life story. I was surprised to learn that Van Gogh, like Monet, collected Japanese Prints. Both of these artists admired nature and a simple lifestyle, but they were two different people and so have two completely different styles even though they had similar tastes. In the beginning Van Gogh liked using dark colors. It was his brother Theo that got him to start painting brighter colors (that is after Van Gogh moved to Montmartre, Paris and saw how outdated his paintings were). While he was in Montmartre Van Gogh met many other artists and made friends with him. I could go on for a while but I want to leave another little side note about Van Gogh: he didn't start painting until he was 30 and he died when he was 57, meaning he painted all of those hundreds of paintings within 27 years. It might not sound like much, but whenever you've seen paintings that have taken the artist 5 years to complete, you start to appreciate the incredible amount of work.
In the Rembrandt Museum I saw the old masters at work. It's no wonder that these men were the inspiration for so many artists. Their work was incredible. Almost like a photograph. I was amazed at how the artist got the lace perfectly-you could even see the crossed threads in it (if I had moved the painting I was certain these threads would change color). They reflected light perfectly. The paintings that I truly think are incredible are the ones where the artist is able to display the light, because often the light displays the mood, and if there is no flocculation of the light then it's unrealistic. If you were to paint a picture of a room, you would need to make everything closer to the lamp brighter right? Light is also reflected by many objects, not just the shiny things like cups and mirrors. One old master showed how the light reflected off a broken piece of bread, making parts of inside of the bread darker and others lighter. 
The little bit that I got to see of Rembrandt was nice. His portraits of people were on the whole very detailed. What struck Ahmee and me was how he thickly used paint. Most of the old masters used as thin of an amount as possible so that the brush strokes would not show up. Rembrandt used the brushstrokes to his advantage. We didn't get to look at the Rembrandt museum very long because we got there an hour before it closed. Afterwards we went looking for a place to eat. The first place we tried sat in front of a really fun looking playground. The food wasn't open, but we went around back to check out the playground anyway. Being the kid I am I danced around the xylophone and climbed up the logs to get to the slide (they had logs that the kids had to climb up instead of steps-this kept only some kids from the slide-had to be daring to make the climb, while I was there one kid fell and bumped his head). After climbing the logs to the slide we moved farther up the street to find a place to get food. Funnily enough we ate Italian food in an Argentinean Steakhouse. Emma will be happy to know that her spinach tortellini is better than any I've had so far.
On the way home we didn't have as many difficulties finding which train and tram we needed to take. Getting the bus to the hotel was the only thing that took a while.
Once we were back at the hotel I emailed people (after Ahmee and Poppy), wrote postcards, and blogged some more. I slept much better that night than the night before. Definitely needed it. I think I'm getting sick again.
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