Last weekend we took an extended field trip to Amsterdam.
We’ve been studying World World II and the Holocaust and felt this was a great time to take a short trip to see the Anne Frank House.
It was amazing! The house has been left unfurnished – when the Germans were tipped off of the secret annex, they also took all the furnishings. Otto Frank felt it should be left this way. As you walk through the house, everyone spoke in hushed tones and you really felt you were walking in a hallowed place.
I think we were all reminded why journals are something we should strive so hard to keep. Emma was also impressed that Anne Frank wrote short stories and had started on a novel as well; a girl after her own heart.
With so much culture around us, we tried to get in as much as possible.
We began with a boat tour . .
. . . and loved seeing the different parts of the city as we navigated through the many canals.
Something that definitely catches your eye is how many bikes there are – locked to everything.
In one area, we even spotted a parking garage just for bikes!
As tourists, we were constantly looking around at the sites and almost got side-swiped by bikes a couple times. If you ever go to Amsterdam, beware of the bike lanes and stick to the little dirt pathway that is allotted for pedestrians!
Path in village of Sloten
Even though Holland is such a small country, there seem to be many famous artists from there. We studied up on a few (Van Gogh, Vermeer, and Rembrandt) and made sure to visit the museums where their paintings are hung. It was great to see the kids recognize their works and know what the stories behind each painting were.
Van Gogh Museum
We even had the opportunity to visit Rembrandt’s house (before he went bankrupt) and see his studio.
Saturday morning, we took a short tram ride out of the city to a small village called Sloten to tour a working windmill. You can’t go to Holland and not see windmills!
This windmill does not grind anything, but rather pumps water. The miller was a great tour guide and even showed us how he turns the ‘mill cap’ so the vanes face the wind. We were impressed as we watched the top of the windmill rotate until it was catching as much wind as possible to get the water pumping.
We will all agree that Sloten possibly has the best French fries in the world! True perfection!
We had such a great time and were grateful to find a flat that could fit all of us. We were on the top floor of this building and had the attic as well.
In case we didn’t get a big enough workout while we were out walking, we always had to finish strong so we could make it up the steep stairs of the flat!
This is only the FIRST flight!
Definitely a weekend to remember (in addition to the fact that we got to experience, first-hand, the energy from the nation as the Netherlands celebrated their World Cup successes so far)!
yeah, you got your blog back up! I’m sure that’s a relief. 🙂
Everytime I peek at your blog it makes me super jealous of all the cool things your family is doing. What a neat experience for your kids. Looks like you are all loving it over there.
You guys. It is SO fun to come see all of your great adventures. We think it’s awesome and love reading about everything. It’s nice of you to share it. We have “seen” more cool areas then every before!
Hooray! I’m glad you made it to Holland. I have a special place in my heart for the Netherlands, and I was so happy to share it with Ben for a few short hours. I wish we could have done everything you did though! The Anne Frank House, Van Gogh Museum, Rembrandt’s house, windmills, “frites,” World Cup excitement — you guys really covered all of the basics! Such a beautiful country. You are so lucky to get to take a “field trip” there.