Amsterdam Trip

Excursion with ESN to Amsterdam. Paid 24 euros which included transport (by bus), the Anne Frank house and a boat ride along the canals of Amsterdam. Quite a good deal.

Anne Frank House - a house where 8 Jews hid from the Nazis during World War II. There's a secret annex in that house and 8 of them (including Anne Frank) had to live there discreetly. In the front of the house, it was Otto Frank's (Anne's father) company. His employees helped to keep their whereabouts a secret so they managed to escape from the Germans for a period of time. However the Germans eventually found them and kept them in concentration camps. While Anne was hiding, she kept a diary, one which nobody has ever seen. Anne had a teacher who taught her how to write. While in concentration camp, Anne felt devastated and thought her father has died. Her sister has died. And she felt meaningless to live. Eventually she died and when that was confirmed, the diary was handed over to the father. Anne's diary has been written into a book and translated into many languages. Quite an interesting place I must say. Although I wouldn't mind missing that sight. Haha..

Anne Frank House:


View opposite Anne Frank House:
After the Anne Frank house, we went for a canal boat ride. It was quite nice for the first 15mins or so. After which I was a bit sian.


After the boat ride, we headed for the Van Gogh Museum. Initially Dong Joo and I were planning the itinerary for the free time in the afternoon. People started asking what we were going to do and we told them. So some of them leeched on and said "can we follow you?"

We were fine with having Maria along since it was her birthday and we had intentions to have dinner with her, then there were a few who just wanted to tag along. AAR, I told Dong Joo that it's too difficult and slow to move in big groups (there were 8 of us).
I can't imagine travelling with this number of people. So I told him future trips will have to be more discreet. It's not the nicest thing to do, but we can't afford dependent leeches. I'm here to travel, not to be a tour guide.

Anyway, Van Gogh museum was excellent. Some pieces were really attractive and listening to the audio guide allowed me to appreciate his works much better.


After the Van Gogh museum, we hurried over to the Heineken Experience. I suspect Tiger Experience in Singapore is something similar. In the Heineken Exerperience, it show cased the brewery which used to be there, and interacted with visitors using multimedia technology as well as having their staff to serve us. The entrance was pretty expensive, 15 euros, but guests were entitled minimum 2 beers. I must say it tastes very good. it's not as bitter as Tiger. But after 1 glass, it was enough for me. Haha. I'm still a lousy drinker.
After the beer tour, we went to celebrate Maria's birthday at an Argentinian restaurant. It was nice and delicious, surprisingly affordable. After which we walked through the red light district. It was quite an adventure and eye opener! That's the true red light district!


The simulator at the Heineken


Boat ride.