2019-04 - Anne Frank, Rijksmusem and Mystery City! (Amsterdam)

Great start to the day with poffertjes on the hotel's buffet breakfast! They are mini pancakes with sugar.  Even more delicious with the buffet's chunky applesauce. Plus, there were lots of cheese options on the buffet and even pots of tea.

poffertjes and applesauce

Our first stop this morning was the Anne Frank House. The building was actually Anne's father's business that sold spices and pectin. During WWII, Germany invaded Holland in 1940. In 1941, the Nazis began rounding up Jews and exporting them to work camps. Anne's sister's notice to report for "work" came in 1942. Because of this Anne's father decided that they all needed to move into hiding into the back of the building, with an entrance hidden behind a bookcase. Mr. Frank handed over his business to his employees. A few key employees kept the Frank family and four other friends hidden and brought them food. In 1944, the Nazis walked into the business, straight to the bookcase and removed all eight people and shipped them to concentration camps. Only Anne's father survived until the concentration camps were liberated by the Allied forces.

The museum and exhibit are arranged well logistically. While the rooms no longer have furniture in them, the rooms are so small that it gives enough space for the limited amount of visitors to pass through. In Anne's room that she shared with a neighborhood dentist, there are still cut out images on the walls that Anne pasted there. In the bottom of the museum,  you can see dioramas of the rooms with furniture. During the day, the eight people hidden there could not run the water and had to avoid all the squeaky spots on the wooden floors in order not to arouse suspicions from the other employees of the spice and pectin business. The entire exhibit is presented very respectfully; and, no photos are allowed. Tickets are available online only, starting two months in advance. Access through stories is via staircases, which becoming increasingly narrower and steepr. There are several staircases, each one narrower and steeper than the last.

The Milkmaid by Vermeer

Next, I headed to the Rijksmuseum, which is only a mile from the Anne Frank House. The building stands proudly across a canal. Then, the stoplight changes; and, bikes zip across the canal and through the archways in the museum's middle. A bit of a headache to go from one side to the other on two of the floors, as they do not go through. However, the Rijksmuseum was built to be the Netherlands' art museum in 1885. The big name Dutch artists with famous pieces here are Johannes Vermeer (the Milkmaid), Vincent Van Gogh (self portrait) and Rembrandt van Rijn (the Night Watchmen). There was just not enough time to go through all of the many exhibit spaces and see all of the artwork.

Small etchings by Rembrandt

Up close, this man's face looked like it was a photo

In addition, there is currently an exhibit of all of the Rijksmuseum's Rembrandts (must purchase a free entrance time when you purchase your ticket). It begins with tiny etchings the size of postage stamps of people, mostly Rembrandt himself, although there are also images of his parents. The etchings grow larger; and, Rembrandt also paints, from smaller portraits to religious images. While we often remember Rembrandt for his almost impressionistic use of paint, there are detailed and realistic paints that he did that almost look like photos of real people.

painted landscape by Rembrandt

Our final activity of the day was an outdoor "escape room" by Mystery City. It was unique in that we were given a map and a bag with different clues to decipher based on locations marked on the map. Definitely a good activity for the beautiful outdoor weather that we've been enjoying in Amsterdam!