The other day my friends and I were talking about traveling, and one of my friends mentioned wanting to go to Amsterdam. It had me reflecting on my own travels, and when I went to Amsterdam. So I thought I’d do a little trip down memory lane, sharing some photos from my trip!
If I remember correctly, I think my brother and I spent about 2.5 weeks in Europe when we went in 2017. We started and ended our trip in Amsterdam, so we spent the most time there. It was also probably the part of our trip where we just chilled out, since we new we’d be tired when we first arrived and were jet-lagged, and we knew we’d be tired at the end of the trip from all the touring around we did.
The highlight of Amsterdam for me was definitely going to visit the Anne Frank annex. When I was a little kid, I read a book that explained the story of Anne Frank in very simple terms, and I went to see a play about Anne Frank with my mom and my Grandma. My interest in her story was immediately piqued, and as I got older I read the Diary of Anne Frank as well. I had always wanted to go and visit the annex ever since I found out you could, and I couldn’t believe I was going to finally have the opportunity to see it with my own eyes. I got very emotional when we first got there, and had to hold back my tears (I was not about to start crying in front of a bunch of strangers). It was crazy to me that we were actually standing in the same place where they were in hiding – not just a replica, but the actual annex. We stood in the actual, tiny bedroom that Anne shared with the dentist, Fritz Pfeffer. We could see the actual photographs that Anne had pinned up on her wall, and the actual markings on the wall to measure Anne and Margot’s heights. I’ve been reading The Betrayal of Anne Frank and it’s making me desperate to go back and see the annex again.
One thing that my brother and I both agreed we loved doing in Amsterdam was just strolling around looking at the buildings and the canals. I miss starting my day by walking to a bakery first thing in the morning to get a pastry for breakfast, and then casually strolling around and taking in our surroundings while we ate. And then in the afternoons we’d get a paper cone of fries and mayo to eat while we walked around.
We went to the NEMO science museum, which was a bit more juvenile than we had anticipated, but was still fun. It was also super rainy that day, so it was nice to spend some time indoors.
I also insisted we check out Madame Tussauds wax museum! If I remember correctly, it was surprisingly not that busy when we went, so we got to get some good photo ops without having to fight through crowds to get them.
I can’t wait to travel again and revisit Amsterdam one day!
Until next time,
Nadine
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