Day 51 - Amsterdam, Netherlands

This morning we are heading off to the Anne Frank museum, Katie had breakfast in the apartment, I lounged in bed too long and had a tram to catch. We got to Westermarkt tram stop which is near Anne Frank museum, we grabbed some coffee from Ted’s cafe & I grabbed a pastry from a supermarket nearby seeing I skipped the muesli.

We had brought the Programme entry tickets which for half n hour you get taken into a room and a guide takes you through some information about Anne Frank, her family and the people that helped keep the people in the Annex hidden for so long. This was good but moving through the museum a lot of what you learn with the guide is part of the audio guide in the museum.
The museum was good to see, hard to imagine 8 people living in the Annex and not making much of a sound during the day so people in the warehouse down below could hear them. They recommend that the museum takes 1-1.5hours, we were there for over 2 hours so really made sure we read everything! It was pretty surreal walking through the house they hid in for 25months.

After the museum we went for a walk along the canals looking for lunch, I had seen a place online that did fat sandwiches, when we got there we found out thanks to TikTok there was an hour wait… Too hungry for that. Walked another block and found a local bakery that did amazing sandwiches, so we grabbed 2, I grabbed some drinks for the supermarket nearby and sat on the edge of the canal eating lunch while watching the line to the first place we were trying to get too.

Once lunch was done with we walked the local area heading for Bloemenmarkt, which is the local flower market. Many bulbs are sold here, bulbs you couldn’t get in NZ or Aus! Katie was against me smuggling bulbs home, especially the cheap bonsai seeds, so went with here advice!

Katie wasn’t feeling the best so I had one last stop before we left the centre back to the accomodation. A local delicacy is Stroopwafles, two wafers with caramel in the middle… to say a diet is needed after this is an understatement - there are shops that make them fresh, spread chocolate on the top and a topping, obviously I had to have one! I went for the Oreo one and was not disappointed! You can see my face I was a kid in a candy store!

We trammed back to the accomodation and Katie had a sleep. I wanted Katie to rest this evening so I went to grab dinner for both of us, Katie wanted a poke bowl so I found a place that wasn’t far by the bus… that’s if your not cocky and don’t get off at the wrong stop like me! I ended up at the restaurant and grabbed our dinners, the place we chose is very much about saving the planet and sustainability… I had to laugh, while I was waiting for our food the rubbish collection was happening outside. Now they leave their rubbish in bags on the streets and the guys come through and collect the bags in the trucks, if a mouse or rat has chewed the bag (yes I saw a mouse and a rat on my walk) the contents go everywhere, the workers pick up somewhat of most of it off the ground, but had to laugh not all of it, especially in front of the restaurant that’s all about saving the planet!

I made it back to the accomodation and we watched some Netflix.Read more