Our hotel here is the opposite from our last few hotels -- it's fairly crappy, but in an extremely convenient location (no two hour train rides this time). We're about one block from Centraal Station on Damrak, for people who have been here. That's basically the main street of town. It's a fun place to be, with hundreds of interesting people wandering around.
After checking in to the hotel, we found out that the Anne Frank house is open late during the summer. That was the #1 thing I wanted to do while here, so we visited. You can see the two-story "Annex" where she lived with her family and another family (total of eight people) until they were discovered, separated, and sent to different concentration camps. It was a moving museum, but honestly I was surprised at how spacious it was. When I read the diary in high school, I always imagined a tiny, poorly-lit, unfinished space. The visit definitely made me want to read her diary again.
We then walked back to the hotel to get our bearings, and decided to find the Red Light district. Two years ago when I taught "Honors Human Sexuality" at BVU, we all did a class project on sex trafficking. Amsterdam has one of the worst records for this crime, and I was curious to see it for myself. We saw several women standing in their underwear behind windows, trying to get "customers." They were all ethnic minorities, for which the area is known (exploiting certain types of people more than others, kidnapping the minority women of certain countries, etc.).
That entire experience was pretty depressing, especially after visiting the also depressing Anne Frank house. But, the thing that brightened my mood was that we serendipitously walked through the gathering spot for Amsterdam's gay pride weekend, which was really fun to see. So many guys in tight leather pants! It was nice to see a city celebrating something that's so close to my heart.
We had a late dinner at the pizzeria on the ground floor of our hotel, which is an open space. When I'm visiting new cities, I prefer to eat outside where I can watch everything that's happening. I always feel more like I'm really experiencing the environment if I'm outside. Amsterdam seems to be a very friendly city. Even though I've been here two times before, it was only on quick layovers between flights. I'm glad I get to be here on a more relaxed schedule. It's a beautiful place.
Below is a photo of the building where Anne Frank lived for the last year of her life.
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