Early early morning for the 4 amigos. We had to make it to the Anne Frank house by 8:15 to get a good spot in line. It opens at 9 and by 8:45 the line is over 100 yards long. We met a sweet older couple from Illinois in line and chatted with them about travel and our plans and futures while we waited. I continued the read "The Falut in Our Stars," until I started crying in line for the museum. Lcuy Smart told me to finish before I got there to add a little magic to the moment. Highly recommend this book again by the way.
As we begin touring the house, it really hits me where we are. The history surrounding us and the imagery of that time and hostility is swirling in my head. I have always been fond of the history of this time and the Jewish Genocide. Fond may not be the correct term to use here, but you understand my interest. Before we got to the museum I asked the girls, "Why Anne Frank?" "What makes her so different from the rest?" The answer I got was that she was 1.) In hiding for so long and 2.) She kept a diary and was able to share her life and her experience through the war that way. But as I went through the museum I realized it didn't matter who it was. Anne Frank is a symbol for all that suffered. She is just like every other Jew from that time. Living a life in fear and knowing hat your hopes and dreams may not find their way through the darkness. Anne's dream of becoming a writer did come to fruition, but it boggles my mind that after 2 years in hiding, they were found and she died 1 month before liberation. As if that isn't bad enough, she didn't even die from their torture, she died of disease that she was subjected to under poor sanitary conditions. It infuriates me that she and the rest of her family were so close. My heart goes out to all of the victims of course, but I especially would have liked to see her come through this. She sacrificed so much for her life and her freedom for so long, only to see the hammer of evil prevail in the end. I think its really great that after I got to see the Anne Frank house and here that story more first-hand, I get to travel to Poland and see the awful place that Anne and her sister were taken. It sometimes feels sick to me that we would choose to go to a concentration camp, but I think I want to see this horrendous place so that I can imagine a world were something like that took place and I can be disgusted beyond belief thinking that one human could do that to another for no reason. It will be eye opening to say the least. Tear-inducing and heart-wrenching. There is more I want to say about the surrealness of it all, but alas, I must move on.
From the museum comes the walking tour of Amsterdam. It is free and facilitated through Sandeman Company. I would highly recommend this 3-hour informational tour to anyone interested in traveling. They offer it in a number of cities and we will definitely be participating again on this trip even. Our tour guide was Berber. She was 100% dutch and truly entertaining and knowledgable. She worked as a freelance tour guide with a law degree she decided she didn't want to use. Amsterdam is the largest harbor in the world (news to me). The city got its name because the fishermen and sailors who founded it built a dam in the Amstel river. Their people are very original so far as name skills are concerned. There are a number of dykes throughout the city that keep it from being underwater. In fact, if there was a natural disaster or serious flooding for any reason, the town would be 2/3s underwater. There are 1200 bridges in Amsterdam.... Whaaaat?? Amsterdam is not that big guys. There are three canals that surround the city a spider web design. They are 3 meters deep and are cleaned every 3 days. In the winter, the canals freeze up and the people ice skate on them!! Because the town was created as a trade harbor, this is the thing that kept them thriving. They created the Dutch East India Company in 1602 (I believe) to harness that wealth and power f the revolutionary trade in Amsterdam. The company was built on the idea that people could invest in them by buying shares and stock in the company. They would then turn around and fund 20-ship fleets to Indonesia and similar places to collect goods for trade back in Amsterdam. In this way, the trips were more successful and fruitful, resulting in higher profits when brought back to Amsterdam.
The houses built in swamp land are built on wood piling foundations. When we got to the city, we noticed all the leaning buildings but it turns out some of that is not a result of poor foundation structures, but is purposeful. They built the houses leaning slightly forward with large windows and pulley systems at the top so that they could move furniture into the buldings and for easy renovation and construction. This way the furniture did not bump against the bulding while they were transporting it up 8 meters. The smallest house in Amsterdam is 1 meter and 8 (something metric) wide. The man who lives there is actually taller than the building is wide. This is because, similar to many places including Hanoi, Vietnam, the property taxes were based on the amount of land your house covered. That is why the houses of Amsterdam started with small bases and many floors making them tall and skinny residences. The official flag of Amsterdam is 3 x's, XXX, representing the 3 dangers of the city- Fire (lots of wood way back when), Plague, and Water (still a danger today). You will see this notation on essentially everything in the city.
As I said before, the city was created by sailors and therefore was well traveled by men primarily. The men having been pent up on ships for months with other men always wanted to step foot of the boat and immediately get some... BEER. So after their beers they wanted ladies and so was born the Red Light District. The government turned a blind eye to this behavior for hundred of years unti 2000 when they decided it was best to regulate it if it was going to happen anyway. They would rather have had the girls working than a bunch of frustrated, drunk sailors destroying the town. Today, the girls are completely legal- they pay taxes and even have a labor union. They have no need for pimps becuse they can call the police if they ever encounter a problem with customers. The women rent their space in the district in 8-hour blocks for a heafty sum and work to recover their money plus some through their shift. They go through clients as fast as possible to earn the greatest return.
I bet you are also curious about the weed situation. Well weed is again tolerated by the govenment who now regulates it. You can purchase up to 5 grams at anytime from most "Cafes." You can also have up to 30 grams on your person at anytime and every Amsterdam resident is allowed 5 plants for their own personal use. However, marijuana is still illegal here apparently. I may have misunderstood her, or maybe its illegal when you don't follow the guidelines, but you can definitely just smoke out in the open and wherever.
To escape jewish oppression, the Portuguese Jews migrated to Amsterdam to be accepted many years ago. When they came, they brought the diamond trade with them. Today, Amsterdam is the number 1 diamon cutter in the world and has been for oer 400 years.
Also, I recommend Dutch cheese. Yum. There was so much infomation on the tour and this barely scrapes the surface, but all very interesting and worth the share.
We headed back to our apartment to pack up and depart for the airport. We made it to Riga, Latvia no problem and then took the teeniest jet to Warsaw, Poland late last night with the National Polish wrestling team. They were staring at us disgustingly and had cauliflower ears. Not a fan.
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