The city seemed nice enough, but had an odd smell, kind of like chocolate burning. Later, we figured out that there is a chocolate factory here. Us and all of the Asians (seriously, they were about 95% of the people on the train with us) walked over to Zaanse Schans. On the way, we saw a windmill (which Seth loved and just wanted to keep looking at). We also walked over one of those bridges that open up to let ships through. Everyone else was on the other side, but I was too chicken to run across once the crossing started beeping, so I ended up on the other side for like 5 minutes.
Hiroko really wanted to go here as it was highly recommended in her Japanese tour book. It did not even appear in our tourbook, so I have to say I was highly skeptical. Zaanse Schans is kind of like Greenfield Village - there are several shops, houses, windmills, etc. that are all in one location to look like a little Dutch town. So, I expected it to be kind of like Greenfield Village, but it wasn't so organized as that. Some of the places didn't seem to be open, but we did step into a small grocery store the way it was supposed to have looked a long time ago. We looked at the windmills and town, but didn't go any closer. We toured the cheese shop and had lots of samples and watched a little video on how they make cheese. We also tried clogs on at the clog shop and saw how they made those. The boys also looked at the animals. Maybe it is more exciting in more of tourist season, but I have to say I was pretty disappointed. It was about as exciting and well-done as Holland, MI. Maybe. If I did it again, I would go to a nearby town of Volendam instead.
We took the train back to Amsterdam - it was much more crowded and Seth was pretty fussy, but a Dutch woman on the train tried to entertain him. I think we went home for a bit and then went to take a canal cruise. Andrew was misbehaving horribly during the cruise and Seth was quite fussy, so it was hard to enjoy. I felt bad for all the other people on the cruise and made Andrew apologize to them on the way out. But it was a really nice view of the city and I feel like we got a much better idea of Amsterdam, how it is laid out, and how big it is. So pretty.
Next, we decided to walk around the Old City Center / Red Light District. We ate some food at a FEBO - this is like fast food that you can buy through a wall by just putting coins in to pay for it. The food is basically fries or fried food filled with meat of unidentified origin, at least in my opinion. We ended up in the middle of a shopping area and were having a hard time finding the Red Light District. It obviously wasn't as big as I was expecting. We stopped in Dam square, looked at the very under construction Palace, and headed out to find the Red Light District again.
We finally ended up in the Red Light District on our way back to the train station. There is an old beautiful church downtown and right on the streets next to it, women are parading around in windows. If the red light is on and the curtain is open, they are open for business. So sad. But we didn't look around too much, obviously. It really only seemed that the worst part was on a couple streets. Overall, I thought Amsterdam was actually a very pretty and very nice city. Of course, there are "coffee" shops, which really means shops that sell weed, and there is the smell of marijuana almost consistently in the air, especially in certain areas. But I still really liked Amsterdam.
We went home and rested for a bit. Then, we went out to a Pancake restaurant. They serve the hugest pancakes you can imagine, which are more like crepes. We ordered Andrew one of his own - a police car one. We imagined that it would be in that shape, but instead, out came a sweet pancake with an enormous police car on top. It was so big, we figured that surely it couldn't be to keep, so we told Andrew it would be fun to look at, but that it wouldn't come home. He was very disappointed and wondered what kind of restaurant was this - so cruel to children. But in fact, in a happy surprise, we realized it was to keep! Andrew was so excited. he also added other cars to his collection when Uncle Kiyo and Aunt Hiroko brought him some from London lucky boy. The pancakes were yummy - mine with chorizo and cheese was quite salty and because we were too cheap to buy drinks (no tap water here), I was ready for a drink.
We saw the line at the Anne Frank house just down the street was pretty short, so our family decided to tour it while Kiyo's family went back to the apartment. I can not imagine touring it when it is totally packed with children. Even with no line and at like 8 pm, we had to wait in line when we got to the secret apartment. I am really glad I got to see it. We had done quite a bit of prep for this, by checking out several children's books about Anne Frank, watched a movie from the Diary, Katsu and I read parts of the diary, and we both read a book about Anne Frank with pictures from the museum's collection. It wasn't really exciting as the rooms are in the same condition as when Otto Frank got it back, so there are no belongings there. I think it gives you a really good idea of how small the space was, how it was set up, and how quiet you had to be. I can not imagine being a young girl full of energy and being pent up able to see nothing. So sad.
A fun busy day.
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