Sunday October 6th, 2013 Amsterdam, Netherlands

This was my first trip to Amsterdam, but Sandra had been twice before – so I was looking forward to a bit of a guided tour. With only one day to fit in all the major sites, we sat with a map over breakfast in the hotel and roughed out a plan. First up was a visit to the Rijks Museum.

We decided to walk the 30 minutes from the hotel to the museum and soak up the Amsterdam culture along the way. There is no doubt about it; Amsterdam is a very photogenic city…

The Rijks Museum has only recently reopened after a 10-year shutdown for major renovations; we had pre-purchased our tickets on the Internet a few weeks before leaving which meant we could skip the ticket line and go right in. If you are only going to spend a day in a major city, and you want to hit a significant museum, you need a plan. We’ve been known to make short lists of the most important works in a museum, along with their locations, to ensure a swift but satisfying visit. 

The Rijks Museum seems to have thought of this and has created a “Hall of Honor” to hold all of what they consider their most prized possessions. This special hall is located on the upper floor of the central building of the museum, which also has identical wings off each side of the center – a very well designed and laid out museum. Each level in the museum is dedicated to a particular century – all very logical, I loved it!

The star of the show is the famous “Night Watch” painting by Rembrandt, and it has pride of place in a room by itself at one end of the Hall of Honor. This painting is simply magnificent!

How has The Netherlands produced so many brilliant artists?

Our next stop was Rembrandt's House Museum and along the way we stopped at the flower market, crossed several incredibly picturesque bridges, and had to pass the Heineken Brewery - despite my dry throat.

We also noticed some unusual "popsicles" in the flower mart...

One of Rembrandt’s former homes has been converted into a museum and contains a collection of period furniture and other pieces that either belonged to the grand master or were very similar to items he owned at the time. It turns out the artist went through a bit of a rough patch (don’t they all) and filed for bankruptcy – this resulted in all of his possessions being sold off. The interior of the museum was created from period sketches and descriptions. 

A walk through the house really does give you a good idea of what Rembrandt’s life was like at that time and includes a reception area that was basically his sales department where he not only sold his works – but he dealt in works by other artists as well. The top floor is a recreation of the artist’s workshop – along with a demonstration of his painting techniques. Beware of the almost vertical spiral staircases.

Next, we headed for the Anne Frank House Museum and along the way Sandra insisted (she really did) we pass through the Red-Light District – which was nothing like I’d imagined it to be. Yes you have the ladies in the windows, but the area is actually very nice and the most amazing thing was to see the large tour groups being escorted through – picture 30 or so older Japanese ladies trailing behind a tour guide holding up a little flag. We also passed through Dam Square (there is no dam, but they do have a royal palace) and saw some other strange shops.

By the time we got to the Anne Frank House the line (queue) was very, very long; it was late afternoon so we decided to take a ride on one of the many narrated canal boats and hope that the line would be reduced by the time we got back.

Tickets for the canal boats can be purchased at several places around the canal system; multi-day tickets (hop on, hop off) are available, but we picked the 1 hour narrated version. At this point in our day we were glad to get to sit down for an hour, so we just sat back and took it all in.

In addition to the traditional canals, the tour also passed through the wider dock areas with some stunning modern architecture - although it was difficult to get good shots through the windows of the boat.

By the time we got off the boat, right by the Anne Frank House, the queue had almost disappeared so we paid the entry fee and prepared ourselves for what we expected would be a very emotional visit.

The story of the Franks hiding out in an attic space during the Nazi occupation is well known, but some of the details were new to me. The Franks actually hid out in the attic of the family jam making business, not their actual house. The family was betrayed just days before Amsterdam was liberated, it’s not known who betrayed them – even worse, Anne died just days before the Allies walked into the concentration camp. Otto Frank, Anne’s father, actually survived the camps and returned to Amsterdam where he lobbied to get Anne’s diary published. The diary was kept safe by Otto’s secretary, who also helped to hide the family.

A visit to the Anne Frank House Museum is a must if you are coming to Amsterdam. The space where the family hid out was recreated under the direction of Otto Frank and includes the bookcase that hides the secret door to the attic space, the walls where Anne pasted pictures from Hollywood magazines and a great selection of actual pages from the diary.

Sorry but pictures were not allowed inside the museum. 

Finally, a few words about our great hotel in Amsterdam – the Hotel Pulitzer. This unique hotel is comprised of 25 adjacent canal houses dating to the 17th and 18th century; the houses are in two rows, back-to-back facing canals. The space between the two rows has been made into glass-enclosed public rooms and outdoor gardens, all very nicely done. We had a great room in the attic space of one of the houses, it was very comfortable and quiet.

Oh well that's it, home tomorrow!