Once we left the ship, we took a Bolt (rideshare similar to Uber but more popular/common in EU countries) from the port to our hotel, and were thrilled that we were able to check in even though it was only about 10:30am. We got settled in and found a lunch place with delicious sandwiches, which was absolutely perfect after not having even one sandwich while on the ship! Mark was in need of a nap after lunch since he hadn’t slept great the prior night, so I ventured out to take some pictures and do a little shopping at the nearby TK Maxx, European cousin to TJ Maxx!
FUN FACT: The Dutch East India Company is the most valuable company of all time. In 1637, their value was the equivalent of $8.2 trillion. Tulips sparked much of this growth!
We left the hotel around 2pm to walk over to the Anne Frank House for our 2:45 tour. This is probably the most coveted ticket in Amsterdam; tickets go on sale every Tuesday morning at 10am Amsterdam time (3am Chicago time) for visits six weeks later. So, I was a very early riser back on March 19th to secure our tickets. They generally sell out within an hour or so! We had a 30-minute introductory program with one of their docents who provided some of the background information about the Frank family and the helpers (heroes!) who worked so hard to keep the family safe. Otto Frank knew the family would need to go into hiding eventually, so he had slowly furnished the space above his company’s office & warehouse. The process was accelerated when Anne’s older sister Margot was summoned to report to Germany for labor duty; they went into hiding the next day.
From there, we started our audio tour. The first few spaces lay the groundwork for the story, and then you actually go through the movable bookcase (yellow arrow on the photo above) into the annex where eight people hid for over two years. We were not allowed to take photos inside the house, so my words will have to try and tell the story. The rooms in the annex are currently empty, but there are photos showing how it looked from 1942-1944. Otto Frank was the only family member to survive the Holocaust, and he wanted the annex to be left empty after he returned.
The annex consisted of several rooms across two floors, plus the attic…it was larger than I had imagined, but still incredibly small for eight people – about 450 sq. ft. total (marked in red on the photo above). The annex was located above warehouse space that had employees in it during the workday, so everyone had a strict schedule and routine to ensure that they would be completely quiet during the day. At night, they could go into the warehouse space. The helpers brought them food each day and made sure they had everything they needed.
After we exited the annex, we went through the museum which told more of the story and displayed Anne’s actual diary; it was incredible to see this with her own handwriting. She was such a bright young woman and very introspective. Such a tragic loss. We are all so fortunate that her diary was saved by the helpers, and that her father had it published. High on my list to re-read this very soon!
We had dinner nearby at “The Pancake Bakery” which specializes in traditional Dutch pancakes, which are a cross between crepes, pancakes, and popovers. The consistency was most like a popover, but they were thin like a crepe. Yummy!
The restaurant was in the Jordaan neighborhood, and we walked around after dinner to see all the crooked houses along the canals and the houseboats. It was a busy Saturday evening…crowds everywhere, and my initial impression was that it looked so much like what I expected!
We headed back to the hotel, unsure if we’d be able to get to it. We’d been notified that it was the “National Day of Remembrance” holiday in The Netherlands, and an event was planned near the Royal Palace, which was just steps from our hotel…so the area would be closed off and access would be limited. Fortunately, we showed the police officer our hotel room key and passports, and he let us through. Phew! We weren’t stuck on the streets for hours!