Amsterdam Part Two - Anne Franks House & A rainy visit to the zoo

 After a good night's sleep, and dosing myself up with cold & flu tablets, we decided to try and enjoy a bit more of our visit to Amsterdam. The first thing we wanted to do was visit Anne Frank's House. Virtually everyone I know has read Anne Frank's diary, it's a harrowing story of a young girl's life being destroyed by the Nazi's. She writes every day in her diary, about events that are happening inside the annex where she and seven others were hidden, including about her complicated relationships with them. I think what makes it so heartbreaking, is the fact that it just suddenly stops. The family was found, and they were deported away, with only her father Otto surviving. She wasn't able to finish her diary.

I think part of the reason why her diary is so powerful is we can all relate to her in some way. Either through circumstances, relationships, or the fact that it feels like she is writing directly to us, the readers. There's also something so powerful about reading someone's personal diary. It's the closest thing we had to being able to read thoughts, and I don't think she ever expected anyone to read it, let alone millions of people across the world.

Today, events across the world bear some similarities to what happened during the second world war. It's easy to think that history doesn't repeat itself, but the unfortunate reality is that is does. And more frequently than we realise. During the second world war millions of people perished, Jews, Roma, people with mental & physical disabilities, the LGBTQ+, anyone who didn't fit in with Hitler's view of the world. We must continue to educate ourselves and learn as much as possible, so we can spot the warning signs before these events can occur again. One voice is not enough to stop, but if enough of us speak up, there's a chance something will change.

Visiting Anne Frank's house, or more specifically the Annex where she and seven others hid was a other worldly experience. You enter through the same book shelf opening that they did, and while everything is left unfurnished, you get the feeling that they have just moved out. There's a very sombre, silent vibe in the Annex, with visitors wrapped up in their own thoughts as you explore through. I felt myself welling up at a times, you couldn't imagine eight people living in such cramped conditions for such a long time, it must have been such hard work.

Photos are not allowed inside the Annex, but I don't think any sort of picture would be able to capture the feeling of being inside there. There's a one way flow through the Annex, and then back down into a museum & visitor information centre, with testimonies and artefacts. This is one of the places that I recommend anyone and everyone should visit if they are able to. It's moving, powerful, and a stark reminder of a very dark period of our history.

Tickets start at 16 euros for an adult. Tickets can only be booked via the website, and these are time slot tickets. There's no way to buy at the museum. Tickets sell out very quickly, so make sure you book in advance. For more information, please head to https://www.annefrank.org/en/ for more information. Tickets are released six weeks in advance, so keep an eye out if you are planning a visit to Amsterdam soon.

We then had a slow wander back up to Centraal, to pick up the Tram 14 to head to Artis - Amsterdam's zoo. James always likes to visit a zoo when we were on holiday. But I did snap these two gorgeous pictures as we were walking to the tram stop.

Amsterdam just has a really fun vibe, similar to that of Gdansk in Poland. It also felt a lot nicer & less busier than Venice, where you're just shoved pillar to post. Or so I felt, James was complaining about nearly getting run over by cyclists constantly, but then again, he did seem to be walking in the cycle lane a lot! In Amsterdam, cyclists rule the roads!

We got to the zoo after a short tram ride, interestingly the tram we got on had a conductor sat in a little booth in the middle of the tram where you could buy a ticket from. You don't see that very often anymore! It's like when you go to some Eastern Europe cities, and they have old women sat in little booths watching the escalators in case something happens. Jobs that in many parts of the world have vanished.

My favourite part of the zoo was these little birds, called Inca Terns. They were so friendly, coming up to us, investigating our shoes and calling out to us. We spent ages watching them hop about, and they are beautiful!

One particular one caught out attention, after realising we weren't going to help him escape, he decided to make a bid for freedom when someone else came in! He wasn't quite quick enough, but he might be next time!

We also stood in the pouring rain watching this baby elephant run around. He was enjoying the rain, I was not, and my sniffles were getting worse!

We even got to see a sleeping bat, hanging upside down from a bird feeder. What an excellent place to sleep though, you literally wake up, and there is breakfast. Maybe it's something we all need to do!

The rain then became much heavier, and we ended up hiding with most other visitors in the restaurant, which did vegetarian pizzas. They were nice, but I was more glad to be able to warm up somewhere and try to dy myself out.

Once the rain had let up, and we had finished scoffing the pizza's, we decided to head back to the hotel. But not before seeing this heron sat on the bridge, as well as this beautiful statue of a dog. I've never been that close to a heron before, they are such beautiful animals.

An adult ticket for Artis Zoo is 29.50 euros. Now it's not the biggest zoo in the world, but I think I would have enjoyed it if I was feeling better. James had a great time, and even threatened to buy a giant stuffed animal from the giftshop as we left. I don't know what Husky would think about that!