Amsterdam

The bad weather followed us from Brussels to Amsterdam and sadly it rained for almost the entire 4 days. Again, Steven had previously been to the city so he was familiar with almost everything except for the Anne Frank house - the line was too long each time he tried to visit.

The sun finally did show it's face one afternoon we rented our yellow bikes and rode around town, up and down the little streets and canals.















Bicycles are absolutely everywhere in Amsterdam, some of them even have nifty contraptions for carrying other people or large items.







And everyone has heard about the Red Light District in Amsterdam - it was just interesting to see the red curtains and lights mixed in with other restaurants, coffee shops, apartments, etc. No big deal, right?

Photography, obviously, is not allowed near the windows so this is the best we could do. And, judging by what we saw in the middle of the day, it's probably best we couldn't take photos as it wasn't pretty. :/

We did manage to make it over to the Anne Frank Museum on our last day and toured the house where her and her family hid for so many years. It was difficult to understand how 8 people could live in such a small space and never leave, much less see the sun, but that is the power of the museum. Pictures were not allowed, although there isn't much to see inside as all of the furniture was removed by the Nazis and never replaced. There was one quote at the end of the museum we thought was moving:

"Anne Frank has become a symbol for the millions of Jews whose lives were cut short and whose potential was never realized. It is hard to fathom six million Jews being murdered by the Nazis, but Anne Frank has made it easier for people today to comprehend the concept of one Jew being killed six million times."