Canal Tour and the Anne Frank House

Despite the bitter cold (20 degrees F), I had a great day of sightseeing with my Dutch buddy Rob. I took advantage this morning of the breakfast served in the hotel that I am staying in, it is free after all! Rob and I met up around Central Station, and the canal tour boats are right out front. The amount of water in this city is just mind boggling. The boat was lovely, a long boat that was completely covered in glass, with comfortable seating. The boat took us all around the city. It was a real treat to have Rob there with me, because as I was listening to the narration of the guided tour, Rob was also filling me in on local info. For example, right as we pulled away from the station, Rob pointed out to me a structure on the right that was many levels high - it was a parking garage for bicycles with three stories! i have never seen anything like it, but it's no wonder that all the Dutch are in such good shape. After about an hour of winding along the canals, hearing all about the cities history, and just marveling at the integration of city and water, Rob and I hopped out. We started walking over toward the Anne Frank House, which I had been very interested in seeing. On the way, Rob showed me lots of sites, Dam Square, The Royal Palace, and a few other beautiful buildings. Not only was it very cold, but it was also very foggy out, so I really wasn't able to take many great photographs. The Anne Frank House was not what I expected at all. it is not a huge museum, only a small house in a row of ordinary houses. The impact was anything but small. I was walking through, and it all seemed just like an ordinary house, but when I got upstairs, and then into the room that Anne and her sister had been in, and saw all of the magazine clippings that they had glued to the wall, it hit me. This is where this young girl spent two full years, NEVER going outside. I was also very struck at the end of the tour of the house, where there was a display about her capture and what happened after. I guess it had been so long since I had read the book, that I just assumed that since her diary survived that she had as well. I was really saddened to hear of her death, one month before the liberation. There was also a very neat temporary interactive exhibit in the museum at the end of the tour. It was a big television screen with a bunch of seat all around it, and at every seat was a little box with a green and a red button. A short video would play about things like religious freedom, freedom of speech, or expression, and then they would ask the audience to vote on each scenario. It was very interesting to see the percentages of people that voted in each direction. A very cool exhibit indeed. From there, Rob and I went and grabbed some lunch. We each went to our respective places, and took an afternoon nap. For dinner, Rob had invited me over his place for a home cooked meal, so I headed over, finding my way on the local bus. Rob cooked a great dinner - pancakes! Savory pancakes with cheese, and sweet ones with apples! I love the Dutch! We had a very nice night together, but it was kind of sad to say goodbye. It would be just my luck that I'd meet such a great guy 9 time zones from my house! Hopefully our paths will meet again. Tomorrow, I'm waking up, and taking the train to Zwolle, in Northern Holland, to meet Roelf and Cecile again. I will stay there for two nights I think, and then head to the Amsterdam Airport on the morning of the 28th! Sad that the Europe leg of my trip is coming to an end, but that means that Africa is about to begin!