Saturday we boarded the train and set off at a leisurly pace with only one plan. See the Anne Frank House. Truthfully. im going crazy in stavoren. Im sick and tired of doing nothing and watching everyone else be so content with doing nothing themselves.'just wait for summertime, this place is a whole other world. you just gotta survive'- sorry but i didnt come here to survive guys!
But everything is perfect now that i have discovered the joys of AMSTERDAM!
We were actually lucky to even make it to amsterdam this weekend as all the snow has stopped most of the trains from running.
However we arrived safe and sound, relaxed and cold haha.
Having no real plan we set off in the direction of the Anne Frank House when we happened upon the 'I Amsterdam' sign. Poor mike, I made him take a photo or two of me, even though we were cold and wanted to hurry on.
After continuing on our way i saw a sight that i never thought id be so excited to see. A small and modest flashing sign that read 'SEX MUSEUM'. Being the girl I am and loving to have a laugh at any form of Innuendo i dragged mike in and hurridly bought an admission ticket. This place was hilarious, and whats even funnier was most of the exhibits were ones i had studdied in history in school. So i was giving mike my own guided tour. poor guy haha. But by far the best part was when you walked past a dingy alcove and this guy popped out to greet you.
The other artifacts were for the most part disturbing, but somewhat hilarious :)
After this we continued on into one of the fancy shopping centres where we saw security gaurds carefully guarding gucci and prada handbags. What a way to make a living hey. Its not like the bags are even that good looking. Or hand made in expensive boutiques. Those poor sweatshop workers. I wonder if they even know? On a happier note Mike and I crossed the street to catch a glimpse of the Palace. Nothing fancy. considering it was being renovated so it look liked a giant tent. But the old church next door was quite pictureque in the snow. And it was that moment that i saw something that made my heart stop... Madame Tussad's.
For some strange reason i have always wanted to go to one of her houses. And boy was it worth it :) I took photos with all kinds of fake dead people. And i swear most of them were moving. Mike and I also got to do a really cutesy Wacko Jacko thing and take a photo of us doing 'the lean'. I must scan that one of these days.
After Madame Tussades we headed over to the Amsterdam Dungeon! THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN! it was basically a spook house designed over the history of the netherlands, so there was a room about the plague, about the spanish inquisition, dutch east india trading companies and witchcraft.
In the witchcraft room i was singled out and called a witch and to prove my innocence i either had to dance round in circles whilst completely naked or i was guilty.
Naturally i wasnt to kean to get my kit off so i was sent into the next room all alone- to find myself a ghost.
Now being a little jumpy around loud noises and such i entered the room, and heard the door slam behind me. i quickly looked all around me to make sure nothing was going to jump out and as i turned back to face the door a man with rotting flesh and bleeding eyeballs was about 2 cm from my face...
I freaked out haha. i screamed, swore and fell over a chair. Mike still in the other room with the rest of the group freaked out thinking i was being murdered haha. I couldnt stop laughing (and shaking) when i stood up. especially when i got told off for swearing haha.
After that rather jumpy experience mike and i took to the streets to find the Anne Frank House.
We stumbled upon this little gem of a courtyard: The Begijnhof courtyard, there are beautiful little houses and the engels kerk. It was like stepping out of the city even though we were actually in the heart of it!
After stepping back into the city things went pretty quickly. I found the American bookstore which is one of the biggest book stores i have ever seen! i had to drag myself away before i got lost in time and a fair few good books haha! Then we litterally did get lost trying to find the Anne Frank House.
However thanks to a lovely passerby we manaed to arrive with plenty of time to spare before we had to leave.
The anne frank house was like nothing ive ever experienced before... to be standing in the very places that these people hid within, to know that most of them were taken away and killed was incredibly surreal. even with all the heating i still felt ridiculously cold, the somber atmosphere was down right depressing. even with hoards of people it was amazing how alone the house felt. how secretive the annex really was. and how much it hurt when i watched the video of Anne Franks father- who survived the concerntration camps- talk about how he really expected his daughters to survive. How he refused to listen to anyone who said other wise until he had it in writing.
