Day 6

Monday June 04 2012

Today I took a day off from my main architecture research for a couple of reasons: one - it was raining again, and two - there were a few things that you absolutely must do in Amsterdam and I hadn't done them yet.  The main one is to visit the Anne Frank house museum, in the western canal district.  Before that, however, I stopped at the FOAM photography museum that is very close to my hotel on Keizergracht.  Free entry with my museumkaart, and it was a cool little building with a warehouse-esque interior.  Then I trekked up to the Anne Frank house, and had to wait in a line in a sea of umbrellas for about an hour.  It wasn't too terrible, though toward the end it was getting quite chilly.  I made friends with an older couple who had come from Minnesota.  We chatted and commiserated for awhile.  When I got into the museum (free with my museumkaart) it was quite the experience.  You'd have to be inhuman not to feel some strong emotions when you go through the progression of rooms and the secret annex where Anne and her family hid after fleeing from Germany, while along the way the story is being retold.  And for those who know how the story goes, it does not have a very happy ending.  Their hiding place was betrayed and they were arrested, sent to Auschwitz, where only Otto, the father survived.  

After that sobering experience, and exiting back into the rain, I needed a place to warm up inside and out.  I continued up Prinsegracht and faced my fear of entering into restaurants by myself to enter: The Pancake Bakery.  It's one of Amsterdam's most renowned pannekokenhuis (pancake house).  I was quickly seated (solo) and served.  They do have savory options such as ham, cheese, onion, etc. but I ordered the most delicious looking thing on the menu: a café latte and a dutch apple pancake with cinnamon ice cream and whipped cream.  Let me explain.  The pancake is as big as your place, and it is a different consistency than American pancakes, which are lighter and fluffier with less substance.  The ice cream was delicious and the cold was a perfect contrast with the warm pancake.  The whipped cream was delicious as were the tart slices of apple.  I was starving initially and thought I would scarf it down in no time, but toward the end I was having trouble finishing!  I did though.  It was well worth the 16 euro I spent.  Instead of mints with your check, they put little hopje candies, which taste a little like coffee but have no coffee or caffeine ingredients.

After regaining vigor and a full belly, I decided to make a stop at the Amsterdam History Museum.  It was a detour I was glad to have taken, as I learned a lot about the transformation of the city over time.  In addition, they had a special temporary exhibit about the trade relation between Istanbul and Amsterdam, as this year marks a historic anniversary.  Very interesting, as my thesis was situated in Istanbul...full circle.

On my walk back to the apartment, I stopped at the Bloemenmarket on the floating Singel.  So many flowers!  I also went into some Dutch cheese shops and sampled some delicious cheese from Holland.  

I'm going to go get some quick dinner now, but tomorrow is supposed to be not rainy (hypothetically) so I want to get an early start as there are still a lot of pictures I want to take of buildings.