We live just over a canal from the Jordaan area, which is mostly residential, and very nice. It has cobblestone streets, beautiful canals, it's clean and quiet, and also hosts some very cute (and expensive) little shops and cafes. Compared to the craziness of the big tourist places, it is definitely one of my favorite places to walk around.
In the middle of the Jordaan is the Westekirk (probably spelling that completely wrong), which is the "old church", made famous by Ann Frank and her family, who were in hiding right next to it. So, this crazy line, which has been like this every time we have walked by, is to tour the Ann Frank house and museum. Apparently it is just fantastic and one of the best sights to see in Amsterdam, perhaps explaining why everyone wants to do it. Fear not future visitors, you can pre-purchase tickets with a time on it so that you don't have to wait in line - apparently something none of these poor schmucks know.
One of the lovely canals in the Jordaan - very picturesque.
After 4-5 straight days of rain, the sun was out all weekend and we did our best to take advantage of it. I'd love to tell you where we were when we took this picture, but since Matt was leading us around, I really have no idea. Somewhere north is the best I can do ... but it was pretty!
We also walked through the year-round flower market. There was one booth with actual flowers, but the rest of it was bulbs. Kind of overwhelming for a shopper, I would think.
After quite a long walk, we were all tired. Matt navigated us to Rembrandt park, a lovely little park in the middle of a square where we sat, ate lunch, and let Calvin play.
"More please, mama!"
And loving his time with Daddy.
One of these days I will post some pictures of our apartment. But for now, these are the crazy steep stairs up to our door. Even our dutch friends say these are unusually steep (no kidding). And skinny too. We have the stroller on a pulley down by the front door. We hook it up there and hoist it up to the ceiling. I have to admit, it often makes me ask myself if it's worth going out ... but then the answer is still almost always yes ... I'm getting strong hauling children and strollers around!
So, that was last Friday. More fun weekend pics to come ...
2 comments:
Love the pictures--it's fun to see the city! I've been to the Ann Frank house/museum, and it is haunting, beautiful and sad all at the same time. Definitely worth a visit!
Ok...so I'm going to start making a list of things to do while we're the...and Ann Franks house has to be on it...hope that is ok :) Looking forward to catching up soon.
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