Amsterdam: Anne Frank Museum, Amsterdam Museum and miles of walking
After enjoying a lovely breakfast prepared by Mieke, we walked across the road to the bus station to head in to Amsterdam. We are so happy that we joined the Dutch hospitality group, Vrienden Op de Fiets ("Friends of Cyclists") and chose to stay at one of their B&B's in Amstelveen. If you are a member, you can stay at a registered accommodation for 19.95 euros per person, including breakfast. This gives you the opportunity to stay with local people who understand and provide for the needs of cyclists. Having stayed with Hans and Mieke at the beginning and end of our trip, we feel a welcoming sense of familiarity in returning here.
Several buses go to Amsterdam from Amstelveen, so one never waits more than a few minutes for a bus to arrive. We paid 14 euros for an unlimited bus pass for 24 hours for both of us. This proved to be a big cost savings and gave us more flexibility as we found that we could jump on and off whenever we liked.
We had read about a bike/travel store in the funky Jordaan section of Amsterdam and were hoping to drop by. Having a bus pass allowed us to spontaneously jump off the bus when we realized we were in the neighbourhood. Luckily for us, we were also in the area of the Anne Frank Museum. We had been told that line ups were prohibitive and as all online tickets were sold out, we had thought that we would be unable to go. As we were in the neighbourhood early in the day, we took our chances and were able to get in to the museum with only a 10 minute wait in line.
Visiting the Anne Frank Museum is an unforgettable and thought provoking experience. Otto Frank, the father, is responsible for the painstaking care that has been taken to recreate their living conditions and share their experiences as well as the words and thoughts written by Anne in her diary. As we walked through and climbed the steep stairs to their hiding place in the attic, we were struck by the respectful quiet of the crowds of people sharing this space with us. It seemed so appropriate to the history and significance of the place we were visiting. Coming outside to the shining sunny world of Amsterdam on this October day jolts you back to a different reality. The Anne Frank Museum - a worthwhile and memorable place to visit.
The bike shop was interesting to visit as the focus of the store is on touring. It is the place to go to get a touring bicycle (Kogo Miyata, Santos,etc)- all stocked with Rohloff hubs. We rarely find bikes like this in a shop and it was a treat to see quality bikes equipped in this way. Barry was excited to find a hardcover book, Rohloff Stories, filled with travel/riding accounts of people with Rohloff Speedhub equipped bikes as well as stories behind the scenes at Rohloff headquarters - still a small family run business with 45 employees. We love our Rohloff hub which we added to our tandem a few years ago and were interested to read stories from high mileage (over 100,000 km) speedhub afficionados.
This small shop is stocked with extraordinary bikes, camping gear, maps, clothing - everything a touring cyclist needs. We bought winter weight, Merino wool lined waterproof socks that will help us to enjoy cycling on the wet West Coast this winter at home. Cold feet in the winter - always a challenge.
We spent the rest of the day happily walking the streets of Amsterdam. We walked for miles, wandering in to shops and following the myriad of canals. In Amsterdam there are 100 km of canals, 90 islands and 1500 bridges - we had our work cut out for us. As we passed by the Amsterdam Museum we decided to check it out. We learned much about the history of this amazing city.
Back to Amstelveen on the bus - tired, but ready to explore again tomorrow. Our priority is to visit the esteemed Rijksmuseum, which has just reopened after 10 years of renovation. If time permits, we'd also like to visit the Van Gogh museum nearby and Museum Van Loon, a canal house.
The challenge for us has been to prioritize what we can see as we only have 2 days. One could spend so much longer here.
The Herengracht Canal is famous for the double wide mansions and inner gardens of former times. The major canals were dug in the early 17th century.These mansions are now used mainly for business and financial headquarters as people can no longer afford to live here. In 2010, it was added to the Unesco Heritage list.
This was on the front door of a former mansion on Herengracht Canal. We liked the message. Based on the plaque we tried to imagine what business is now inside these walls.
All townhomes (modern and old) along the canal have a hook on a bar protruding from the roof line - most everything is delivered to the upper floors in this way. My only disappointment was that we didn't get to see a piano being delivered.
We found the perspective of this painting of a young resident of Hoorn unusual but intriguing. Like his father, he was not a soldier, but became a militiaman and a great defender of his city.
What would Rembrandt think of his statue and the Nightwatch, replicated with statues in a town square named after him - juxtaposed with a building representive of modern internet life.
In Rembrandt Square, a unique treatment of the Nightwatch painting by Rembrandt. The painting is reproduced with bronze statues of all of the figures, including the dog, and placed as Rembrandt created them. Barry couldn't resist posing by two of his favourite figures, Captain Franz Banninck Cocq and Lt. Willem van Ruytenburch.
