I’m thankful that I had indoor activities planned for most of the day today since the weather was gray and drizzly all day. I most definitely did not sleep for 11 hours again last night. I was wide awake at 1:45AM and never went back to sleep. So the weather and my lack of sleep left me dragging myself around Amsterdam today. Nevertheless, I managed to hit up two iconic Amsterdam attractions: the Anne Frank House and the Rijksmuseum.
Getting tickets to the Anne Frank House is no small feat. Tickets are released on Tuesday morning at 10AM (Amsterdam time) for the week beginning six weeks later. And they usually sell out within minutes. It was a frustrating morning six weeks ago trying to get through the website, but I managed to snag a ticket with a 30-minute introduction for 9:15 this morning. I recently reread “The Diary of Anne Frank” in preparation for this visit and was looking forward to seeing the bookcase which concealed the Frank family’s hiding spot for over two years. Being inside the secret annex and seeing where 8 people (the Franks, the Van Pels, and Fritz Pfeffer) lived was quite moving and both the introductory program and the audio tour helped me appreciate it even more. I’m glad it was at the top of my “must do” list for Amsterdam.
After my visit to the Anne Frank House, it was time for some real food. I had yogurt for breakfast in my room but it was almost noon by the time I arrived at Winkel 43. An Instagram favorite for its famed Dutch apple pie, I had originally been planning on just that. But my stomach had been growling for hours and I added a ham and cheese toastie for good measure. The apple pie definitely lives up to the hype, despite online debate about whether it truly is the best. A thick, crunchy crust with more of a dense coffee cake texture, and the perfectly cooked apples inside made for a delicious lunchtime treat. (And yes, it’s half-eaten in the picture because it came out before my sandwich and I couldn’t resist a few bites!)
The Rijksmuseum is the crown jewel of The Netherlands museums, housing some 8,000+ works of art from both Dutch artist and others from all corners of the world. And it was my destination for this afternoon.
I definitely didn’t see all 8,000 works, but I gave it my best. I honestly couldn’t really tell you much about the artwork I did see. There were a lot of famous paintings by the “Dutch masters” (Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Vermeer, among others) and a special exhibition on American photography. Art just kind of blends together for me. I can appreciate it but I’m not one to stare at a painting and take anything away from my encounter with it. I listened to the highlights tour in the museum app and spent what felt like a reasonable 2.5 hours in the museum. Are you getting tired of hearing me say how crowded everything is? Here I am trying to get a look at “The Milkmaid” by Vermeer:
I probably should have noticed that the pizza restaurant I was planning on for dinner is closed on Mondays. I ended up walking about 30 minutes further to get to La Perla in the Jordaan neighborhood. It ended up being a mediocre choice. I had a raspberry, rhubarb, and prosecco drink with a Quattro formaggi pizza that was much too mushy for my liking.
Traveling with Laura 