Amsterdam, October 26-30, 2015

Harvey and I went on our first international trip without Josh. I was very nervous about this journey, but my awesome London buddies, Kate, Mary and Rachael, helped out a ton!

We left late on Monday night, and after a few obstacles of an over packed train, baby food issues, and a broken suitcase we finally made it on the plane. Mary took over Josh's airplane duty and Rachael distracted me during take off. I think we did pretty well.

Tuesday morning we got up early and ventured out to the Six Collection tour. The Six Collection is a small museum located in the private house of the Dutch aristocratic Six family, with roots reaching back to 1032. Entry is free but must be organized in advance. It was pretty spectacular to view their collection. My take away form this tour was learning about wedding portraits. The women wore black dresses because it was the most expensive fabric at the time, a bracelet on each wrist symbolizing being cuffed to their husband, and a ring on the index finger because they thought there was a vein going right to the heart.

Six Collection

Then it was time for the best fries and cookies in Amsterdam. At Vlaams Friteshuis Vleminckx they had many sauces to pick from, and I went with mayonnaise. The fries were delicious and fresh but then I had the cookie fromVan Stapel. OH MY! The best cookie I have ever had. It's a chocolate cookie with a white chocolate chunk in the middle. They only sell these cookies and make them every 30 minutes so they are gooey and perfect! They were so good we went back later in the trip.

Fries

Enjoying our fries and people watching

We walked to the Flower Market. It is the only floating flower market in the world. They had tulips of every color. I got some wooden tulips as a souvenir so I don't have to worry about watering them. We also spotted a penny press!

Our next adventure was my only request when we were trip planning. The Anne Frank House. This is the 17th century canal house, known as the Secret Annex, where Anne and her family went into hiding and wrote her diary. Shortly after the book was published, visitors were shown around by the employees who had hidden the families and could see the secret rooms. But by 1955 the company had moved to new premises and the entire block to which the building belonged was sold to a single estate agent who served a demolition order with the intention of building a factory on the space. A campaign to save the building and to list it as a protected monument was started on 23 November 1955. The building was saved by campaigners who staged a protest outside the building on the day of demolition. It was very moving being in the rooms I had read about in her diary. Remembering how the curtains had to remain down, and how quiet they had to be so no one would know they were there. The rooms were small, especially for a group of people to live in secret, but they were much larger than I had pictured. My suggestion for this museum is book early! There is a 4+ hour line out the door at all times, and tickets sell out fast, but it is a must see in my opinion!

Anne Frank House

Anne wrote about hearing the bells from this church

Wednesday morning we headed to the Van Gogh Museum to check out some of his paintings. It was a very modern looking museum with some odd installations, like a wooden box you could lock yourself in if you were moved to the state of insanity due to the art. Van Gogh and his buddies were an interesting bunch.

Our Lord in the Attic- now this was fascinating. Rachael would talk about this museum but once I saw it with my own eyes I was blown away! Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder is a 17th-century canal house, house church. The Catholic Church was built on the top three floors of the canal house during the 1660s. It is an important example of a "schuilkerk", or "clandestine church," in which Catholics and other religious dissenters from the seventeenth century Dutch Reformed Church, were unable to worship in public, held services. It is a full blown Catholic church hidden away in a canal house.

Secret Church

So old we had to wear shoe coverings

Front door looking at canal

As far as artists go, the Rembrandt House was more my style. Rembrandt lived and worked here from 1639 to 1656. It was set up as they believed he had it during his time. My take away from this museum was the term Masterpiece. This was when the student had studied under the master and felt he was ready. The student would attempt a creation hoping the master, who he studied under, considered his art to be at the same caliber and declared a masterpiece.

Rembrandt House

How he made his own paint

Where the students worked

We had a relaxing dinner at an Indonesian restaurant called Blauw, and then strolled through Vondel Park on our way to the Red Light District. 

Ladies of the night

On Thursday, we headed out early for the I amsterdam and the famous apple tart from Cafe Winkel 43. We all loved it! We picked up some cheese for our plan of a cheese and wine dinner and headed to the Rijksmuseum for a quick tour. We ended our day with a canal tour with Those Dam Boat Guys. It was filled with lots of beautiful sights and information.

Winkel

Breakfast of champions

Loves cheese just like mom

Rijksmuseum

The Night Watch

7 bridges

Fun on the boat

During our stay Harvey made a new bestie, Murdock. This cat was so patient with Harvey and they even had conversations with each other. Harvey now has a distorted view of cats because his buddy was one of a kind.