Day 3-Amsterdam

Yesterday, we headed out early to visit the Anne Frank House.  By far, this is my favorite part of our visit to Amsterdam as it really helped me to conceptualize what Anne's life was like for the two years she was in hiding.  Seeing the original bookcase that hid the door to the annex was overwhelming and I shed more than a few tears as I imagined her experience there.   At the end of the exhibit, they show short films regarding controversial issues and the audience is asked to press a button to vote with their opinions.  This brought up some really interesting conversation with the kids and was one of the highlights of the exhibit.  The Anne Frank House is another place I wish every child in America could visit.

After Anne Frank, we walked to the Van Gogh museum where we waited in line for 2 hours.  This was our longest wait in Europe so far and we almost reached a point of despair when it started to rain.   As usual, we refused to give up, pulled out our umbrellas and stuck it out.  The museum was terrific--Maddie and I enjoyed it the most, but I think we all felt it was worth the wait.

Because it started raining harder while we were inside the museum, we finally relented and took a tram back to the apartment.  Of course, we had to run for a crowded tram and get in through the back door with our wet umbrellas--total chaos.  Once we were on the tram in the back, we couldn't figure out how to pay the driver in the front and snuck off like criminals at our stop.  I have a feeling the Amsterdam police may put us on their Most Wanted list!



Today, we said goodbye to Amsterdam after one last visit to the street fair...the kids were counting on having another waffle, but the waffle guy wasn't there today and they were devastated.   I think Jacob may take a train back tomorrow to look for him!