The next two days in Amsterdam were a mix of some site seeing and a whole lotta exploring neighborhoods around our airbnb.
We woke up on Thursday with a bit of a chill in the house boat. The sun wasn't hitting the boat yet but luckily we found the thermostat and the boat heated up in 15 minutes.
After preparing breakfast we had a slow morning relaxing on the couch and soaking up our view before heading out to park Frankendael. We had lunch reservations that afternoon at De Kas.
The ride out to Park Frankendael was a 10 minute walk to the 9 tram and a 15 minute ride once on it. We were a bit early so we walked around the park for 20 minutes before lunch.
Inside De Kas we were seated in a corner table which was the perfect spot to take in the view of the restaurant, kitchen on the far wall and the glass ceiling that surrounded us.
The restaurant only serves a prefixed menu of fresh ingredients they have that day. Onsite they grow some of the produce and herbs. About 15 miles north is their main farm where the bulk of their food is grown. The waiter came over with some olives, beets, and bread to start. We each order a cocktail and then waited in anticipation as to what our first dish would be...
Menu:
Three small plates
1) Soup: Potato puree with fennel, perch fish and spinach
2) Baked salad with mushroom, red onion, goat cheese and egg dressing
3) Pancake with a pumpkin and chickpea purée sprinkled with diced pumpkin, kale and sunflower seeds
Main entree
- Halibut with root vegetables
Complementary dessert with our espresso
- sugar cookie with semolina, tomato fruit snack and the worlds smallest dark chocolate Hershey bar
At around 2:30 we made our way back home with a few stops in between. The neighborhood we were staying in was just south of Jordaan. It was quaint, filled with small boutiques and shops. Each shop we went into was more aesthetically pleasing than the previous - making it hard not to buy something from every store we went into.
Later that afternoon we dropped into coffee shop and played backgammon outside on one of the patio tables. After four games Drew and I were tied 2 to 2. We decided to call it even and made our way back to the houseboat for happy hour. Dinner that night was at a local burger joint.
I was able to get a second wind after dinner so we decided to take a walk 20 minutes north to the red light district (a must see when in Amsterdam right?). As we approached the area you could see the ground floor windows letting off a soft red light. Crowds of people were walking up and down the narrows street peaking into the windows. It almost felt like we were at a zoo. We had enough after about 10 minutes and headed home. Tomorrow would be an early morning to get in line for the Anne Frank house.
We were out the door by 8:30 on Friday and only had a 10 minute walk to the Anne Frank house. The museum opens at 9am and there were already 75 people in front of us. By the time we made it inside at 9:30 there was probably 200 people behind us.
The first building we entered was Anne Franks house. This self guided tour took you through Anne Franks fathers, Otto, warehouse for his spice and gelling companies on the ground level. On the first floor was the offices for his employees in the front and Ottos office in the rear. From there we went up the staircase to the room where the bookcase was, which shielded the hidden entrance to the Secret Annex. Through the bookcase we entered the start of the total 500 square foot area Otto's family of four and four other people hid for two years from the Nazi authorities.
The first room on the second floor was Anne Frank's sister and parents bedroom, followed by Anne's room and a bathroom. Up the stairs on the third floors was a communal area/kitchen and also where Mr. And Mrs. Van Pels slept. Past this room was their sons room. Peter's room had the ladder to access the attic but this was closed off to the public. We were able to get a glimpse of the attic from a mirror the museum angled at the top.
After Peter's room we were led across to the museum that housed Anne's diary, personal belongings that were found in the house and some short films with interviews from family and friends of the Frank family.
We left the museum at around 10:30 and went back to make breakfast on the house boat. Later that morning we ventured out and decided to explore the Jordaan neighborhood that was a few streets north from where we were staying. It's one of Amsterdam's most favored neighborhoods for its shops, restaurants, scenic streets and old-fashioned community-oriented families that reside there. We popped in and out of a few stores and sat down for an afternoon coffee break. Before heading back to the houseboat we ended up walking down a street just as school was letting out. The street was a one lane road with a separate bike line, moms were picking up their kids, a group of young boys were huddled around the bike rack planning their afternoon activities, kids were running across the street to the local ice cream and candy shops, dads were zipping by on their bike with a kid on the handle bars and another in the back. It felt like we were watching a scene about 1950s small town America/ Leave it to Beaver, but everyone was wearing modern clothes and using cell phones.
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