After spending the night on the ship Amy, Sarah, our friend Zach and I headed to the station to take the train to Amsterdam, after about three hours and one mix-up where we got off at the wrong station (oopsies) we made it to Amsterdam! One of the girls who I did the Harry Potter tour with, Allie, had told me about this amazing pancake place that was just about a block down from Anne Frank's house and since we really wanted to see the house we thought it was the perfect place to stop for lunch. Basically, you get these pancakes that are the size of a small pizza and are topped with almost anything! I, of course, got banana/chocolate :)
After we ate our gigantic pancakes, okay so after we ate most of our gigantic pancakes, we headed to Anne Frank's house. They do not allow photography inside so I cannot show you pictures, if you want to see it you should go for yourself--which I highly encourage. You enter through what used to be the Jam shop and manufacturing center that was run by Otto Frank (Anne's father). The house/shop was left as it was after they were found out and the Nazi's raided the place. Otto felt that leaving the rooms empty was a remembrance of all those who lost their homes, their livelihoods and in some cases their lives and so the museum is mostly empty rooms. They did, however, provide models and pictures to show what they place looked like when the Frank's and others lived and worked there, which made it all the more impactful. In what used to be Anne's room they have preserved/restored the pictures that she cut out and glued onto the walls to make the room look more cheery and all over the museum they have painted quotes from her diary onto the walls in plain, straight, black lettering. It was very humbling and somewhat depressing because you could feel the tension in the air. All of the windows had been blocked by black curtains and people were crowded in the tiny rooms that were shared by the eight members of the secret annex. In some places they played videos of the events that took place or interviews with Frank Otto and Miep Gies (one of the office members who helped the Franks). At the end of the museum there another video of survivors who were Anne and her sister's friends and classmates. There was also a room which held her original diary and pages of the notebooks and spare paper that she continued her stories on.
After we had finished touring her house we wandered around for a bit and went to see the royal palace (we think, at least that's what the girl in the sandwich shop told us it was). The weather was looking a bit rainy so we thought we would take a canal cruise in a covered boat through the city, which was really pretty, especially because the sun was setting and coming through the rain clouds in really cool patterns and colors. Here are some pics from the canal tour:
Pretty sunset!
On our train ride back to Antwerp we rode with Caroline and Abby (two more SAS girls) and we sat buy this cool guy from France, William, and we talked a lot about random stuff. Drinking/driving/voting ages in America vs. France, politics, economics, the upcoming election in the US, the unrest in the middle east and Egypt, etc. We also talked about music and movies and other, more fun stuff.
Today has just been spent chilling around Antwerp, doing some shopping and getting wifi in THE BEST CHOCOLATE PLACE ON THE PLANET! Seriously they have chocolate everything: tons of different combos of ice cream, fruit, nuts, sweets, and chocolate. Chocolate tea, coffee, milkshakes, probably alcohol though I'm not sure, etc, etc,etc. Also, they give you a brownie with anything you order, literally! Amy went up to order a water and they gave her a bottle of water with a cup and a brownie on the side! Here are some pics of what I have gotten over the few days we have come here. Oh and yes mom, I have been eating healthy food too but that is just not as fun to blog about lol.
Thats all for now--e-mail me about your lives because I want to hear about what you all are doing too!
~Colleen
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