I fell in love with the Netherlands the moment Ryan and I arrived in Amsterdam. The city was bustling from the prior evening's New Years Eve activities and the sun was shining through the clouds glistening on the canals. It was breathtaking.
We arrived New Years Day and caught the first train into the city. When we arrived at our houseboat it was around 1 p.m. and our host, Joyce, was ready and waiting for us! Staying in an authentic house boat on the Prisengracht canal was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The fire was going when we walked inside, candles were lit, and boats were floating by our floor-to-ceiling windows.
TRAVEL TIP: I LOVE AirBnB! I would absolutely recommend it to anyone traveling abroad. It provided Ryan and I with such a unique opportunity to experience Amsterdam like a house boat-owning local. The price was comparable to the local Marriott in town and the only downside was the lack of taxi cabs waiting at the front door.
Ryan, still not feeling well from the virus he caught over Christmas, took a nap while I set out to explore the city!
First up I went to the Amsterdam Tulip Museum, followed by the Amsterdam Cheese Museum. Both were fun little stops next to each other in the Jordaan neighborhood. Of course I stopped in front of every tourist shop to take my picture in the large wooden shoes! What girl doesn't love a good pair of shoes?!
Then, I walked over to the Anne Frank House to see the statue and original door before our 6:00 p.m. tour and finished my walking excursions wandering through the Jordaan-neighborhood canals snapping pictures, eating "stroopwafel" cookies, and taking in the beauty of Amsterdam.
It was finally time to wake Ryan up and head down (a little less than a block) to the Anne Frank House for our tour.
TRAVEL TIP: Book these tour tickets in advance! The line was wrapped around the building, but since we had purchased the "Entrance Plus 30 min. Program" ticket we were able to reserve our time of entry in advance and skip the line through a side entrance.
The Anne Frank House had fascinated me since I first read her diary in elementary school and I was looking forward to finally seeing the secret annex, hidden doorway behind the staircase and Anne's bedroom. I made myself re-read the diary before I visited so that I could comprehend more of her story from an older perspective and I'm glad I did so I had a better idea of what to expect upon entering as it is a self-guided tour.
Upon entry, we were seated in a classroom in the building next door to the original home Anne lived in. The two houses were connected in later years to house the museum. We listened to a historian speak on Anne's personal life, the life of Jewish people living at the time, and a bit about the history during the two years Anne was in hiding.
Then, the self-guided tour of the home began. It started in the basement of the warehouse then up a short flight of stairs to the warehouse offices of Otto Frank, Bep, Miep, Mr. Kugler and Mr. Kleiman.
It continued up another flight of stairs where we were able to see the bookcase and hidden stairwell to the secret annex - this was one of the most interesting parts for me.
We were then able to enter the hidden staircase up to the first landing where the Frank Family bedrooms were located. They had a growth chart of the two girls marked on the wall and the pictures that Anne had glued on the walls were still in tact. That was another fascinating part as she talked quite a bit about those pictures in her diary.
That lead to another steep flight of stairs to the common room and Mr. and Mrs. van Pels room. Located behind their room was Peter's room and the stairway to the attic. I also found this fascinating to look up into the attic where Peter and Anne spent so much time talking. It was very interesting to see. We were not allowed into the actual attic for safety reasons, but were allowed to look inside through strategically placed mirrors.
Once we concluded the tour of the secret annex, we made our way back into the museum where we saw Anne's actual diary and heard video feeds of her friends, father and Miep.
This was the main reason I wanted to visit Amsterdam, and I'm very glad I was able to tour this home. It was fascinating and humbling to see.
Post-Anne Frank House, we walked over to the Amsterdam Light Festival headquarters and hopped on a tour of the Christmas lights in the city. Amsterdam's Christmas lights were so artistic and strategically put together it was amazing! It featured a bridge of lights that was motion censored when canal boats would pass, a large deck of cards illuminated and our favorite was a walk-through platform in which you were surrounded by small light bulbs.
TRAVEL TIP: If you decide to visit the Amsterdam Light Festival, I would recommend paying for the canal tour as it will be far warmer than the walking tour we did; however, I would still walk on your own to a few of the highlighted light features that aren't as well-viewed from the water.
Our first full day in Amsterdam we took a half-day excursion to the Netherlands' countryside visiting towns like Maarken, Volendam and Zaanse Schans. It was GORGEOUS. Definitely do this if you're in Amsterdam.
Zaanse Schans was the cutest windmill town! We did a tour of one of the working windmills, and grabbed a bite of breakfast at a local bakery. The liege-style waffles were fabulous - I'm officially addicted! It was just such a picturesque city with the deep blue lake, lush grass and bright blue sky. This was what I had envisioned Holland to look like.
Our next city was Volendam, again such a cute small town situated on Europe's largest man-made lake. We toured the cheese museum, had more waffles and I even had Ryan Barry dress up in "traditional Holland clothes" for a picture!
The final city on our countryside tour was Maarken. We arrived by a ferry boat from Volendam into a small community with a variety of matching houses and little cobblestone streets. The landscape was gorgeous and the little alleyways were adorable! We finished our time in this town with a trip to a wooden shoe maker's factory to see a demonstration of how they are made and what their original use was for - it was a short demonstration, but we loved it!
Then it was back to Amsterdam to make the final canal tour of the afternoon!
We enjoyed the canal tour and hopped off early to see the Heineken Brewery and the Rijksmuseum where we loved watching the ice skaters and taking our photo with the "I Amsterdam" letters. It was a bit crowded, but still recommended!
TRAVEL TIP: If you want to take a tour of the Heineken Brewery definitely book this in advance as the line was wrapped all the way down the street.
We grabbed a traditional Dutch dinner dish at a local restaurant near our house boat and continued on to make our tour of the Red Light District. It was fascinating!
We were able to walk with our guide through the various streets as she informed us of the history of the Red Light District and how it operates. She guided us through the Red Light District Museum where we were allowed to stand in one of the red illuminated windows to see how people look at the girls when they pass on the street. She explained everything from the taxes and registration licenses the girls need to the security alarms they each have and the different types of prostitution that is legal. We learned so much more about the district having a tour than we would have learned just walking through on our own.
Up next: Brussels, Belgium!
