After a delicious breakfast, that is included with our hotel stay, we walked about 15 minutes down the canal street we’re staying on and arrived at the Anne Frank House in time for the tickets we had booked ahead. It can be difficult to get tickets unless you plan ahead and we hadn’t. The first available date to get in was July 15  when we checked yesterday. The hotel concierge said they would keep trying throughout the day as tickets might be released when tour groups cancel. Fortunately, by the time we arrived back at our hotel last night, they had secured 2 tickets for us today. After visiting this museum, we felt so thankful as it is an extremely moving and important story for everyone to know. But, it was an emotional visit for us, as well, and left us feeling blue and discouraged that the world includes people who feel the need to take away others’ rights to live as they are. For us, it was especially depressing when you consider that there are still people trying to control how others live their lives today and don’t seem to learn lessons from the past. It took us a while to find ourselves again as we wandered the streets of Amsterdam looking for a place for lunch. However, we found a delightful place eventually, a pancake house (!) along a canal, and had a nice meal. After that we visited the foremost Amsterdam art museum, the Ruks Museum which features artists from the Classical period mostly, especially well-known Dutch artists like Rembrandt and Vermeer. We can only look at so many pieces of art before becoming overwhelmed and exhausted by them but we enjoyed the experience and were glad we went. But, feeling tired and worn out from our sightseeing, we returned to our hotel for some R & R before dinner. You’ll hear about and see our dinner in the photos. It was another great recommendation from hotel staff whom we’ve come to rely on for advice about what to do during our short stay in Amsterdam. From the restaurant, we weren’t too far from the Red Light District where legal prostitution is on show and we walked through that area just to get a slice of that side of life in this progressive Dutch city. It was very interesting but, obviously, not our cup of tea! We had a nice walk back to our hotel through some areas we hadn’t seen yet and reflected on the day we’d had. Experiencing the gamut of sights and the array of emotions that we did reminded us that this is what we like so much about travel – seeing cultures and sides of life that make us think and show us what variety our world has to offer.

The modern entrance to the museum that tells the story of Anne Frank. She was a young Jewish girl, and along with her family and several family friends, they tried to elude the Nazi forces who had taken over the Netherlands during World War II and were intent on eliminating the Jewish race. They hid for 2 years in an annex above the factory that her father had managed prior to the Germans taking control. As part of the museum, you are able to walk through the actual rooms where they hid and see photos of what life was like there for the Frank family and several friends. Sadly, they would be found out near the end of the war and sent to the concentration camps on the last trains going there from the Netherlands. All, except Anne’s father, died in the camps but the diaries that Anne kept while in hiding were published and helped the world to know what took place during this horrible time in our world’s history.

This is the front door of Anne’s house and is no longer used as an entrance. No photos are allowed within the museum but this is a must-see venue when visiting Amsterdam.

The pancake house where we had lunch today. It doesn’t look like it but it’s right in the middle of the city!

This was Ryan’s pancake. It had chicken and a variety of vegetables on top and came with sweet chili sauce to drizzle over it. He thought it was amazing! Clint had a ham, cheese, and mushroom pancake – delicious also!

The Ruks Museum, a magnificent building and Amsterdam’s answer to the Louvre.

Rembrandt’s masterpiece “Night Watch” on display in the Hall of Honours (along with paintings by the more well-known Dutch artists).

The Milkmaid, also by Rembrandt.

There is one room with paintings and lithographs by Toulouse Lautrec. We liked those a lot.

There are three paintings by Vincent Van Gogh displayed in the Ruks. The one in the middle is one of his self portraits. Not far from this museum there is another known as the Van Gogh Museum and is devoted to this very famous Dutch artist.

On one side of the Ruks Museum is perhaps the most famous tourist sight in all of Amsterdam, the I amsterdam letters.

We found a bench near the sign to rest our tired feet and watch the tourists posing on and among the large sign’s letters.

Time for putting our feet up and resting a bit in the afternoon back at our hotel. This hotel is quite quirky and interesting in its design, though it is certainly not for everyone’s tastes. We thought we’d show you a few photos to see what we mean. In the middle of the lobby is a tall atrium with all sorts of hanging art. Some rooms look out on this atrium and have close-up views of the art pieces.

This is our room – crazy huh? We kind of like it!

The water closet for the toilet is completely wall papered in this style. It has many interesting things to read on various matters while spending time using the facilities.

We’re on the top floor and do have a nice terrace with table and chairs though it’s been a bit cool to really sit out there and use it.

Time for dinner! We went to an Indonesian restaurant and had a sampler meal with about 15 different dishes to try. We tried our best but couldn’t finish them all. The Dutch colonized Indonesia at one time and there is a connection between the two cultures that influences some Dutch cuisine. It was very good!

Last stop of the day was the Red Light District. You’re not supposed to photograph the women who appear behind glass windows along the streets and alley ways, not that we would want to anyway. But, we did notice that the canals in that area were a bit more like in Venice, where they went right up to the buildings, on one side at least,  rather than having streets on each side of them as we’ve seen everywhere else in the city.