Last day in Amsterdam

It was my last day in Amsterdam and I really wanted to go inside the Ann Frank House. There is always a massive line to go inside. I was reading about her while in the line in Rick Steve's book. It is just so strange that she used to live here, used to see the church next door, walk these streets and here she was hiding with 12 other people in a tiny apartment for 2 years.

You see the hidden book case door as their secret entrance. You see the rooms they stayed it, posters Ann hung on the walls of fashion magazines, where they ate, games they played, and of course, the diaries of Ann Frank.

It is a very tough experience going through their house and seeing images of the Holocaust. Unfortunately, the Frank's were discovered by an unknown tip and taken to camps. Everyone died except the father. Ann and her sister Margot died at the concentration camp of disease only two weeks before the camp was liberated. Ann however was told that everyone in her family had been murdered and her friend said she can see she lost the desire to live. It is a tragic story and important that we learn about this horrific event so that this would never happen again.

On a more positive note, I grabbed a bagel for lunch (yum) and went to a rental bike company. I rented a bike for 3 hours. I thought it would be so relaxing and peaceful. . . man was I wrong. It is like driving a car. You have to know the rules of the road, look out for pedestrians coming every way, bikes coming every way 10 times faster, and cars! I was getting ringed at by other bicyclists, I was struggling up the bridges as they can be very steep and with no gear change I mainly walked my bike up those short steep hills. I found the place where you can hop on the ferry and it takes you for free across the river. I had no idea where to go so I just hopped on and was taken to the other side. It was nothing special so I just turned around and went back on the boat. It was pretty cool because scooters as well as bicyclists are all squished together waiting to cross. Then once you reach the dock, the scooters start revving their engines and when the fence goes down, we're off! I then explored some more areas, especially around Jordann and then headed back to the bicycle shop. I was relieved to get rid of the bike and just walk. It is just too stressful for me to figure out. But I can say now I have bicycled in Amsterdam.

I headed back to the hotel and checked out. I made my way to the airport and was heading back to Prague. I had a wonderful weekend and Amsterdam was very pretty. I will miss it's cheese and waffles :( Although it is already the end of June and school is about to end and my next trip is my Grand Finale trip!!! Florence, Mykonos, Santorini, and Dubrovnik Croatia! Those are some blogs you can not miss! I can not WAIT for those adventures. Thanks for Czechin up on me with my blog.