Anne Frank to the Red Light District

Elizabeth and Ashley in Amsterdam
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The next morning we slept in fairly late and grabbed a small bite to eat at a local bakery. Since outside felt extra cold due to heavy winds we opted to pass on the outdoor windmill museum, though we did snap a few pictures…of course! We then headed into Amsterdam and officially began our day by stopping at the Pancake House, as recommended by our travel book. The pancakes tasted delicious! I ordered the apple, raisin pancakes while Elizabeth went for the banana ones and Ashley the plain apples ones. The syrup, homemade of course, was the best part since it is not very easy to find syrup in Germany. After stuffing ourselves we headed towards the Vincent Van Gough museum. While the museum did not actually house many of Van Gough’s paintings we did enjoy viewing the ones displayed. Unfortunately “Starry Night,” one I would have loved to see, is located in New York. After the Van Gough museum we walked over to the Anne Frank, which stands as one of my most favorite museums since I’ve traveled throughout Europe. I found myself highly interested to see the actual residence she spent so much of her life in. Upon finishing that tour we walked towards the Red Light District. I had always heard that it is extremely sad, however, I wasn’t really prepared. In the middle of the afternoon there were women standing in lingerie or swimsuits in the windows. It really is such a depression area. What I found most interesting, however, is that outside of the district itself the city seems perfectly normal. Anyway, by this time it was nearly time to catch our train back to Heidelberg. We stopped for a quick bite to eat at a café by the train station where I had-officially-the best tomato soup of my life. It was like fresh squeezed tomatoes put into soup. So good! Anyway, we thoroughly enjoyed our weekend in Amsterdam and Brugge.

We walked over to the Anne Frank, which stands as one of my most favorite museums