Amsterdam!
We woke up early today (no sleeping in for us) and ate breakfast. We said goodbye to the Kays and made our way to the train station. The weather was warmer and made it comfortable to walk to the station. We rode to our train, did a bit of shopping, and then boarded. We took the Thalys train from Brussels to Amsterdam. It's a really nice (and fast) train to ride. On the way, we watched the movie "Amelie" on Emily's laptop. It was perfect timing because the movie ended around the same time as when we arrived in Amsterdam.
When we left the train, we put our bags in lockers in the station and headed out. We walked around Amsterdam for a while, looking at the beautiful canals and buildings lining them. The buildings are all touching each other and yet they all have a unique quality about them. They are really beautiful (I'll post pictures sometime). We found the Anne Frank house and waited in line to get in. The house is not really like what I imagined. I also didn't know that so many people (9, I think) were in hiding there. We went through the rooms and saw posters and pictures that Anne had pasted onto the wall to make the room more happy. She was never able to leave the house—she could see outside but could never go outside. The rooms that Anne lived in were surprisingly larger than I had imagined. I guess I had always though she lived in a closet-type space. The rooms were regular size and were well furnished (by the miniature models we saw—the actual rooms have no furnishing in them now). The Nazis found the Franks hiding and sent them to the camps. Everyone died but Anne's father. Anne died just a month before the liberation. If she had known that her father was still alive (they were separated), she might have been able to hold out for just enough time. It was sad to hear this.
Also, we found out when we got to the house that Miep Gies, one of the women who helped to hide the Frank family, had just died about seven days ago. She was 100.
After we left the house, we went and ate lunch at the Pancake Bakery. Emily got a salad and I had a Caprese (mozzarella, pesto, tomato, onion) pancake—not an American-style pancake....this pancake was about 13" in diameter).
Then we perused through the city more, walked through the Red Light district, and made our way back to the train station to meet up with our friend Esther. When we met up with Esther, we then headed to her place, north of Amsterdam. The train ride took about 3 hours. We then met her mother at the station and went to their home. It's a lovely home. Esther has an older brother, Tim, his girlfriend Stephanie Kay (the daughter of the family we stayed with in Belgium), mom and dad (dad is a family practitioner). Their village, Buitenpost, has a population of only about 6,000 people.
The room I stayed in has a great big bed and its own sink. It was really nice to sleep in. I slept till around 11:30 :).
Today we're going to go shopping and see a dike near the village. I've always heard about dikes, and now I'll get to see one! :) (Most of the Netherlands is below sea level, so they've had to create dikes to prevent the water from flooding the country—the country is very flat).
P.S. I forgot to mention that in Belgium, Emily and I decided that the three encompassing things we saw most were: beer, chocolate, and lace.
