last day in amsterdam

Today we had a lot we wanted to do.  It was our last day in Amsterdam so we wanted to cover all of the places we haven't gotten a chance to visit yet, such as the Red Light District, Anne Frank Museum and the Rembrandt house.  We got up early.  B and Isla watched some videos and we had some breakfast before heading out of the house.

Isla loves watching her nursery rhymes in Dutch on the iPad.

We figured the best way to get around to see all of these attractions was to do a canal tour. We could get on and off the boat at various spots in the city which made it really convenient for us to see everything in the short amount of time we had today. The best place to get a canal tour is from the Old City Center, the semi-circle with Central Station at it's apex. It corresponds to the city as it was around 1850.

Six major concentric canals ring the Old Center: the Singel, the Herengracht, the Keizersgracht, the Prinsengracht, the Lijnbaansgracht, and the Singelgracht, together forming the Canal Ring. Other districts inside the city center are the Jordaan, a former working-class area gone upmarket, and Plantage, a leafy and spacious area known for it's zoo and botanical gardens. The roads Nassaukade, Stadhouderskade, and Mauritskade surround the center and mark the location of the former city moat and fortifications. Almost everything outside this line was built after 1870.

We decided to detour to the Red Light District, or better known as De Wallen here in Amsterdam, when we got to the center. It was more convenient to go there now rather than later because it's so close. Being one of the oldest areas of the city, De Wallen has architecture and layout that is typical of 14th century Amsterdam, although many of the buildings were built more recently. The canal system here was contained within the former walls of the city, of which the Waag is a surviving example and is the oldest remaining nonreligious building in Amsterdam. The area also has a number of sex shops, sex theaters, peep shows, a sex museum, a cannabis museum, and a number of coffee shops that sell marijuana.

They frown upon pictures in the Red Light District so I could only take the one below of one of the alleys at the entrance of the District.

There were a lot of tourists leaving and going to the De Wallen. It is the largest and best known red-light district in Amsterdam and consists of a network of alleys containing approximately three hundred one-room cabins rented by prostitutes who offer their sexual services from behind a window or glass door, typically illuminated with red lights. It was busy even this time of the day. We walked past the sex shops and saw the working girls. They were out in the windows just as advertised. It felt unreal. I felt irresponsible strolling through the district with a toddler.

In the middle of the District is the Old Church. The 800-year-old Oude Kerk ("old church") is Amsterdam’s oldest building and oldest parish church, founded ca. 1213 and consecrated in 1306 by the bishop of Utrecht with Saint Nicolas as it's patron saint. After the Reformation in 1578 it became a Calvinist church, which it remains today.

The church has seen a number of renovations performed by 15 generations of Amsterdam citizens. The church stood for only a half-century before the first alterations were made; the aisles were lengthened and wrapped around the choir in a half circle to support the structure. Not long after the turn of the 15th century, north and south transepts were added to the church creating a cross formation. Work on these renovations was completed in 1460, though it is likely that progress was largely interrupted by the great fires that besieged the city in 1421 and 1452.

Locals would gather in the church to gossip, peddlers sold their goods, and beggars sought shelter. This was not tolerated by the Calvinists, however, and the homeless were expelled. In 1681, the choir was closed-off with screen of oak. Above the screen is the text, The prolonged misuse of God's church, were here undone again in the year seventy-eight, referring to the Reformation of 1578.

In that same year, the Oude Kerk became home to the registry of marriages.

It was also used as the city archives; the most important documents were locked in a chest covered with iron plates and painted with the city’s coat of arms. The chest was kept safe in the iron chapel.

The church covers an area of some 3,300 m2 (36,000 sq ft). The foundations are set on an artificial mound, thought to be the most solid ground of the settlement in this marshy province.

The roof of the Oude Kerk is the largest medieval wooden vault in Europe. The Estonian planks date to 1390 and boast some of the best acoustics in Europe.

The floor consists entirely of gravestones.

The reason for this is that the church was built on a cemetery. Local citizens continued to be buried on the site within the confines of the church until 1865.

There are 2500 graves in the Oude Kerk, under which are buried 10,000 Amsterdam citizens, including: Johannes Vermeer, artist and Rembrandt's wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh.

The bust of famous organist and composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) celebrates the lifetime he spent playing in the church. His early career began at the age of fifteen when he succeeded his deceased father Pieter Swybertszoon as the Oude Kerk’s organist. He went on to compose music for all 150 Psalms and secured an international reputation as a leading Dutch composer. His music would also be played over the city from the church’s bell tower. He is buried in the church.

In mid-March each year, Catholics arrive at the Oude Kerk to celebrate the "Miracle of Amsterdam" that occurred in 1345. After taking communion, a dying man vomited the Host. When his vomit was thrown into a fire, the Host did not burn and was proclaimed a miracle. The Host was put in a chest and installed at the Oude Kerk; however, it disappeared during the Reformation.

Bennett enjoyed climbing in and out of the narrow pews.

Rembrandt was a frequent visitor to the Oude Kerk and his children were all christened here. It is the only building in Amsterdam that remains in it's original state since Rembrandt walked it's halls.

In the Holy Sepulcher is a small Rembrandt exhibition, a shrine to his wife Saskia van Uylenburgh who was buried here in 1642.

Each year on 9 March (8 March in leap years), at 8:39 am, the early morning sun briefly illuminates her tomb. An early spring breakfast event is held annually.

The Old Church has so much cool history surrounding it that we ended up spending a big chunk of our morning here.

We took a walk to the Rembrandt house after leaving the church. We walked past many "coffee shops", or marijuana joints, french fry establishments, antique stores, cheese shops and art galleries.

The Rembrandt House Museum was very busy. Painter Rembrandt lived and worked in the house between 1639 and 1656. Rembrandt purchased the house in 1639 and lived there until he went bankrupt in 1656, when all his belongings went on auction. The auction list enabled the reconstructions of all his belongings which are also on display in the house.

We skipped the tour because Bennett was really hungry at this point and wanted nothing to do with another museum. So we briefly visited the lobby of the museum before leaving.

We stopped at a street market after lunch to browse for souvenirs. These are really popular in Amsterdam.

Finally we got onto the canal tour after another short walk. The city is really easy to navigate if you keep track of the canals. Bennett wanted to do some reading on the boat. His favorite book right now is: "How Hippo Says "Hello"."

The tour was really educational. One of the first things we learned was the city has a parking problem for all of it's bicyclists. The garage near the Central Train station is filled to the brim with bikes, or approximately 9,000 of them, in a space that should only hold 3,000. Can you imagine looking for yours at the end of the day?

We floated by the performance center.

And, many more intriguing buildings around town.

We took a break from the canal tour at Winkel Cafe for some of their famous deep dish Dutch Apple Pie. The cafe was really busy, there was no seating available outside and we had to wait in a long line for about 30 minutes for our slices of pie. Luckily Bennett was taking a nap so we could wait in line without having to entertain him at the same time. The cafe has other food offerings, such as small appetizer cheese plates and sandwiches, but the apple pie was the only dish I actually saw anyone purchasing. In the Netherlands, the apple pie looks almost like a cake. The portions are generous. Many of the patrons here also order mint tea to go with the pie. The tea is served in a glass filled with mint tea leaves. It's really popular in the Netherlands. We ordered coffees. Sometimes I laugh at how American we are no matter where we visit.

The pie was worth every millisecond of the wait. It was the best tasting deep dish apple pie I have ever had! The whipped cream topping was a scrumptious touch. No wonder the cafe attracts so many locals and tourists as well as Bill Clinton, Beyonce and Jay-Z. I wish I could bring some home with me.

Right around the corner is the famous Anne Frank House. During World War II, wartime Jewish diarist Anne Frank hid from Nazi persecution with her family and four other people in hidden rooms at the rear of the 17th-century canal house, known as the Secret Annex.

The museum opened on May 3rd, 1960. It preserves the hiding place, has a permanent exhibition on the life and times of Anne Frank, and has an exhibition space about all forms of persecution and
discrimination. We did not go inside because the line to the museum lined three blocks. It is one of the toughest place to visit in Amsterdam. The wait can be up to 4 hours to get inside in the late afternoon. We got back on the canal tour to head back to the Damiani's. We were all ready for some R and R.

We floated by some more of Amsterdam's historical structures and buildings.

The bridges here are one of the major attractions. This is one of the old bridges here in Amsterdam across the River Amstel. The city's name, Amsterdam, means damn on the Amstel.

Here you can see some of the bridges line up in a row down the canal. This spot is very popular for photographers who like to capture the uniqueness of this location.

We made it back in time for dinner. It was bittersweet considering it was our last night with the Damiani's and Amsterdam for a long time. We had a great night talking, eating, laughing and packing up. I will miss our friends and Amsterdam dearly!