Day 7: Amsterdam

Last April I had tickets to travel from Liege to Amsterdam to visit the Anne Frank House. It was an okay plan. The trip involved two transfers in each direction, taking nearly three hours each way, making it a very long day. With the rise of antisemitism I wanted to root myself at the hiding place of one of the most famous victims of the Holocaust. 

My plans were thwarted by a train strike.

I then learned the Anne Frank House planned to have a special temporary exhibit in New York City. That's certainly much easier for us to visit, so we did.

I'm glad we did, but I still wanted to see the original in Amsterdam. As we planned our December trip, I added an excursion to Amsterdam. From that part of Belgium, it is only a 90 minute Eurostar ride. I purchased the train tickets before buying the tickets to the house. I spent the luxurious train ride mapping out our day.

Having been burned once trying to plan a trip to Amsterdam, I did not spend much effort planning this trip. I have a feeling we will return to Amsterdam someday. 

Amsterdam and I have some history. Besides that aborted Spring trip, when I was a Rotary exchange student our group took a weekend trip to Amsterdam. It is where my Aussie boyfriend ("Moz") broke up with me. We had been dating intensely for one month. It felt longer. We wrote to each other nearly daily. The mail in Belgium delivered letters the next day (benefit of a small country). I have avoided the city ever since.

I suppose it was fitting to reclaim Amsterdam by bringing my husband with me.

I spent the train ride mapping out the order of things to do. There is so much we should have done. After we came home we watched the Ted Lasso episode where they spend a night in Amsterdam. Made us realize just how much we missed.

We walked from the Centraal Station to the Anne Frank House for our 9:45 am tour. Ate lunch at a café. Went on the cat boat Ashley visited a couple of years ago while she was studying in Italy. We walked around the Albert Cuyp market, Museumplein where the Christmas Market was located, and back to Centraal Station.

I know we should have seen the Van Gogh Museum or the Rijksmuseum, but for once it was not raining and we wanted to be outside strolling along canals.

I did not take any notes that day.

Here are some pictures of Amsterdam:

Small enough to park with the bicycles

Amsterdam is beautiful any time of day, but it seems extra magical as the sun is rising. The 6 am train ride meant we arrived before sunrise.