Amsterdam: Part II

Today (meaning a week ago, today) we woke up and had Dutch pancakes (basically crepes):

I had a sweet crepe with apples, raisins, bacon and cinnamon:

Aaron got a savory with curry chicken:

Really yummy, but again it's just a crepe.

Then we did a 100 highlights cruise along the canals:

This is called "The Eye," it's some sort of museum:

Another cool museum (we obviously weren't listening to anything the guide was saying):

Lots of cool houseboats:

Opera house:

Canals:

So much fun and really gorgeous.  

Then we met with our Dutch friend, Jasmijn, who we initially met on our last night in Costa Rica.  We ended up hitting it off and decided we should keep in touch and try to meet again in Amsterdam.  Dream: realized!

She first took us to this really amazing old church in the middle of the city.  It's almost hidden in plain sight and although the city is full of hustle and bustle, the church and courtyard are completely quiet (besides the tourists):

Then we walked behind Central Station (train station, remember?) and hopped on a free ferry to go to Amsterdam Nord.  It's the northern part of Amsterdam, far less commercial, but up and coming because the city center is getting so overcrowded and overpriced.  Nord is becoming a trendy, fun spot among locals.  Here's the ferry:

Most people are riding their bikes, so they just bring them on board:

It was super windy in Nord, but we were not deterred!  We walk over to the old port and saw some cool boats:

Then we hit up this trendy restaurant/bar made of shipping containers:

Super nice inside though:

We ordered drinks and hung out for a few hours.  It was so nice to see Jasmijn again!  Then we headed back on the ferry to another bar for a last drink:

We noshed on pumpkin soup:

Then we said goodbye to our dear friend.  Miss you already, Jasmijn!  

The next morning, I was determined to see Anne Frank's house (we had gone 2 previous times and the lines were crazy long).  Aaron opted to sleep in (smart guy).  It opened at 9am, so I woke up at early and walked over.  I was in line by 8:15 and was by no means in the front of the line.  However by 8:30, this formed behind me:

It wrapped around the entire church (to the right, not pictured)!  I couldn't even see where it ended!  About an hour and a half later, cold, wet (it rained on me) and determined, I was close:

It looks very unassuming, which is I guess helped, since they were in hiding for two years.  There were no pictures allowed inside the museum due to the sensitive subject matter and out of respect for the emotions of others, which I totally understood, but it still sucked.  I waited for 2 hours and couldn't even take any pictures to show you guys.  I only got the entrance:

Sorry!  I will tell you though, it was very emotional and totally worth it.  To walk into the secret annex and actually see how they lived, to touch the walls of her room and imagine their lives there was pretty heartbreaking.  They had her actual diaries, as well as family photos and videos with friends who knew them.  Anne's father, Otto, survived and does a short video interview (they play the videos on a loop) and it was so devastating.  He lost everyone he loved (everyone hiding in the annex was murdered at concentration camps) and he still found the courage to get Anne's diary published.  It is one of the most read books in the world, translated into more than 70 languages.  She wanted to be a writer and even wanted to write a story about life in the secret annex.  If she only knew what her diary has meant to the world.  Not to get all preachy, but this is what prejudice, ANY KIND OF PREJUDICE, can lead to in the world.  It starts small and festers and can turn into a Holocaust before we know what hit us.  I think everyone should read The Diary of Anne Frank to really understand the price we all pay for prejudice.

Moving on!  I was on a roll at this point and wanted to see the Van Gogh Museum across town, so I went into a tour office, bought a fast pass (I was not planning on waiting in line again!) and hopped in a cab.  When I got to Van Gogh, I was like "Oh my Van God!"  The line was crazy again!  Thank goodness I had my fast pass, right???  Wrong!  EVERYONE got a fast pass, so the fast pass line was an hour wait!

Oh yea, and it rained there too!  So I waited ANOTHER hour and got all wet AGAIN!  Man, the things I do for art.  I finally got inside and we aren't allowed to take any pictures here either!  I saw lots of people doing it, but I didn't want to be one of them, so I abstained.  It was a really good museum, I will say.  Rather large and very well put together.  I saw all the famous works and got his backstory.  They even had a lot of art from other artists that inspired him or got inspired by him.  Very cool!  In the gift shop, I thought this was funny:

Done with museums!!  However, I did walk behind The Van Gogh Museum to see another museum:

Pretty, huh?  Then across from that was Rembrandt (I think):

 I tried to fit both in there, but you can't tell.  

By now, I'm exhausted and starving from waiting in lines and walking through museums, so I'm ready for some grub!  I hook up with Aaron back at the hostel and we decide to go for some yogurt.  Sounds really random, but we had our reasons.  Our dear friend, Amy, whom we met in Galway, Ireland, is from Holland and although we didn't get to meet up with her (she was still in Ireland when we were in Amsterdam), we promised we would visit her bother's yogurt shop.  

You could get thin yogurt, greek-style yogurt or frozen yogurt, so of course we opted for frozen (of course, the yogurt is all fresh, Dutch yogurt).  Then you chose your sauces and toppings.  They had everything from honey and mango puree, to all kinds of fruit and nuts and brownies:

Our final result:

Aaron had coconut, hazelnuts, chocolate and honey.  I had fig, kiwi, mango and strawberry.  OMG best frozen yogurt I've ever had!  It was like Pinkberry, but much, much better.  Yay Yoghurt Barn!!!

Then we got tickets to The Amsterdam Icebar!  We'd never been to an ice bar before, so we thought why not?  Passed the opera house on the way:

We got a drink in the bar outside the ice bar, then when it's your group's turn, you watch a quick funny video and they give you coats and gloves to wear before entry:

It's frickin cold in here!!!!  Ice polar bear:

Ice bar:

They played some music and we all got jiggy:

We even got served in cups made of ice!!

Super fun, but it was pretty cold, so after about 20-30 minutes we were outta there.  Last time walking around Amsterdam and we get both beauty and vulgarity:

That's pretty much Amsterdam in a nutshell!  We loved it here!  Can't wait to come back someday!