Amsterdam

 

Church of our Lady

We started our only full day in Amsterdam by walking to the Anne Frank Museum.  If you've been there you know it's a very moving experience.  We spent 1.5-2 hourstouring her secret quarters where she, her family and their friends spent two years in hiding.  For some reason I was surprised to see her father, Otto, in an interview and the interview was in color.  The same was true for a few of the people who helped hide them.  Otto Frank was the only member of his family to survive the holocaust.  He did not die until 1980. 

From there we walked to the Church of Our

Padding for kneelers

Lady for Mass which was said in Dutch.  The congregation at the 1:00 Mass was specifically people from Suriname.  Of course there wasn't much we understood but the church was beautiful.  Suriname is in South America and had been colonized my the Dutch so it seemed to make sense. However, I was confused when the Mass started out with a song sung to the tune of "God save the King" for reasons I still don't understand.  The Kneelers in that church haven't changed in hundreds of years accept now they have a piece of cloth padding you can put down on the kneeler before you kneel.  Finally we experienced the rare Catholic reverse wave.  Meaning the people in the back knelt down first, then people in the middle and finally people in the front.  As most church goers know, it's usually just the opposite. 

Seven Bridges

After Mass we walked to one of the canals for a canal tour.  The tour was 75 minutes long, was informative and allowed us to see sites we would probably not have walked to.  

The last stop was one that every tourist has

Cathy embraces
her heritage.

to see when they visit Amsterdam, The Red Light District.  It was only about a 20 minute walk so off we went.  There isn't much to say about the area that you haven't already heard except in my opinion it just seemed much sadder than I expected.   I did learn from our hotel guy that there are actually three areas in the city were prostitution is legal.  Two small areas and the famous red light district.  Our hotel is in a nicer area but happens to be only blocks away from one of the smaller areas.

Erin made it home safely and Buddy was excited to greet her.  It truly was very nice of Bill to stay with Buddy at Erin's house while she was gone.  

I would be remiss if I didn't

Bikes are
EVERYWHERE 

mention the bikes of Amsterdam.  Before coming I read that there are literally more bikes in Amsterdam than there are people which I now believe to be true.  They are everywhere and they are ridden by everybody from young to old.  People carry everything oin bike carts including groceries and children.  We even saw one man bringing home a Christmas tree on his bike.