Vondelpark, Street Art & Anne Frank

Just a couple blocks from Mike & Teresa’s apartment is Vondelpark, like a small Golden Gate Park, with lakes (of course—no shortage of water!), separate bike and walking paths, an open-air theatre, playgrounds and a couple of cafes. Large homes border one side of the park, and we caught sight of the resident wild parrots and nesting herons (big nests!). Daffodils are blooming and the trees are sprouting new leaves.

From this bucolic setting, we moved on to The STRAAT street art museum—an easy tram-and-ferry trip from our home away from home. M&T have a membership to this museum, and love to share it with visitors. A former ship-building warehouse provides space for large-format works of street art and the artists who create them. We’re talking graffiti (a bit ), but so, so much more. See the photos, because words just can’t describe it. For example, President Obama’s “Hope” poster falls into the category of many of these paintings.

Finally, the two of us switched gears again to get to our 5pm entry for the much-in-demand Anne Frank house. This museum is on the site of the building where she and her family, along with four others, hid from the Nazis for two years until they were arrested and sent to concentration camps. They had non-Jewish friends who helped bring them food and news. It’s a sad story, as we all know. It was interesting seeing the place where they stayed, which was sort of like a very small apartment, not a closet or basement as we envisioned. The self-guided audio tour was very well done, incorporating many of Anne Frank’s words from her diary and emphasizing that there are many, many stories like Anne Frank’s.Read more