Day 10: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Written by Carrie L.

I have been going to bed really late and waking up before everyone else, and I am not quite sure why.  I think part of it is because I really like the quiet time where I can get some things done, reflect upon my day and catch up on some emails.   As I mentioned before, I have a lot going on in my life right now and my head seems to keep spinning.  In addition, we usually have a strict itinerary that we have to follow and today was no exception.  I like to get ready first so I can start kicking little bums into gear without worrying about kicking my own.

It wasn’t until the day before yesterday that we even had a hotel in Amsterdam booked.  It was, by far, the hardest one to decide on because IF you can find parking in the city it is really expensive.  We had been searching for all sorts of housing options:  Apartments (will we ever learn our lesson?!?!), house boats (we eliminated that when we pictured inebriated “coffee house” patrons jumping on our boat in the middle of the night), and hotels.  We couldn’t however, find anything that had parking on premises and if you recall the nightmare of Paris, you remember that with the enormous amount of luggage and little people we are attached to, on-site parking is non-negotiable.  Therefore, we came up with the brilliant idea  (if I do say so myself) of finding a hotel at the airport because we knew we could park there and that getting the train into Amsterdam for a day’s visit would be easy enough.  In addition, Carrie B’s husband has a ton of Hilton points so we took advantage of the idea of “free hotel for two nights” and booked it!

It was a great idea, actually.  Even though we “illegally” squeezed ourselves into the room, free was free and we decided it was worth it! 

Breakfast in our room

After we all woke up and got ready for our day, Carrie and I hit the executive lounge for the free breakfast (free being the theme for the day, apparently), although keep in mind the hotel really didn’t know we had three kids with us AND they thought Carrie was with Justin.  We left the kids locked in the room (don’t judge) and went on yet another breakfast hunt.  As if we weren’t worried enough about being “found out” for having more people in the room than was allowed, when asked what room we were in at the entrance of the lounge, Carrie B confidentially says, #544.  “Nope, I said to her.  That was another hotel.  We are in room #825 here.”  We both laughed at the fact that we have no idea where we are, nevermind what room number we are in.  Already skeptical of us, the woman at the lounge didn’t enjoy our humor and seemed to suspect we were not actually “executive material” and that we really shouldn’t have been partaking in such benefits.  So, to make it even more convincing that we weren’t smuggling lots o little people into a hotel room, Carrie and I piled as much food as we could on two plates, each with coffee and multiple juices.  So much food, in fact, that I had to make two trips back to the room to carry it all.  Ms. Lounge Worker kept starting at us, wondering why we weren’t eating the food in the lounge which clearly was set up for such refined executives such as oursevlves.  “We are just going to take this in our room,” I felt the need to explain, to which she only gave me a less than courteous nod.

Learning more about Anne Frank

As we were in a basic, small hotel room, it probably goes without saying that there wasn’t much space to eat the stolen breakfast so we settled in on the floor, grabbed forks and ate what we could before the other person grabbed it first.  This wasn’t one of our finest teachable moments, what with stretching the truth to the kids why they had to be really quiet in the hotel room and why they couldn’t come with us on the breakfast hunt.  But, we had more important things to think about…seeing Amsterdam…or “Hamsterdam” as Elise decided it should be called.

Tying together the lessons in Germany about the Holocaust, Hitler and World War II, I introduced the historical figure, Anne Frank.  I was really excited to teach the girls about who she was and what she did because I knew it would be such a great way to tie in Germany and the Netherlands, as Amsterdam was where Anne Frank lived after her family fled from Germany during the war.  I am ashamed to admit I never read “The Diary of Anne Frank” and so I was pretty much as riveted to the story as the girls were, this being my first time hearing about it myself and all (I guess my private school education has a lot left to be desired, huh?).  Before we left for the trip, I downloaded a children’s book about her and we started reading it to the girls before we left the hotel. 

We love the HOHO buses!

Our plan for the day was to do the Hop on/Hop off bus to see the city.  Part of the bus ticket fare included a canal ride through the city so we were also excited to do that as well.  We marked the Anne Frank museum and the Van Gogh museum as the two “must dos” on our itinerary today.  As we hopped on the hop on bus, I sat in the back with the girls and finished the Anne Frank book just before the museum stop.  We got off the bus, took a picture with the statue of Anne Frank and then headed off in the direction of the museum.

Finishing our Anne Frank lesson on the bus

Just then, as we rounded the corner, Carrie and I remembered that it was HIGHLY suggested we purchase tickets online to avoid the crowd.  We had all intentions of doing that but in our defense, with so many cities, so many itineraries and so many darn “things to do” in our heads, we totally forgot about this tip.  Understandable right?  Only thing is that the girls were really, really into Anne Frank and her story about how she and her family had to go into hiding for 2 years to keep from getting arrested by the Nazis.  The girls really related to Anne because she was a young girl who was a bit cheeky at times and who enjoyed writing in her diary.  They really connected to who she was, what she went through and how she documented her story.  It was one thing to learn about the war and the Holocaust but it was a whole other story to actually connect to an individual who was directly impacted by it.  To top it off, the museum was the actual location of the “secret annex” where she lived and her family hid until they were captured.  Not only did the kids really want to visit that museum, so did us adults!

The line was around the building!

Anytime you have a 5, 6 and 7 year old that motivated and enthusiastic about visiting a museum, you MUST take advantage of that.  But we were faced with the tough decision of spending most of our time in Amsterdam waiting in line and missing the other sights of the city with their passion for visiting a historical museum that would tie in much of our learning on this trip.  So, after a lot of hemming and hawing, we noticed that because it was Saturday, the museum was open until 9:00 at night so we would return later when, hopefully, the line would be shorter.

We walked around the nine-streets area which is filled with cafes and shops.  It was a fabulous area for taking pictures and doing some window shopping.  The girls fell in love with a little jewelry shop where they each got a ring and for Grace’s belated birthday present, Carrie bought her a precious jewelry box to keep it in. 

A gift for Grace

I must say, we had all the best intentions of introducing the girls to authentic food throughout our journey, but we really didn’t do well executing that plan.  First of all, we realized, in all our ignorance, that we don’t know much about the various, authentic foods in each country and researching it?  Well, we didn’t.  So, we typically went more for the familiar choices as well as the things we knew they’d eat.  We tried to go as healthy as possible, but we often didn’t succeed (hence the reason why my pants are SO tight!)  But, we have, at least, tried not to do Japanese sushi or Italian restaurants as clearly, those are not authentic to where we have been travelling.  This day, however, would mark the last city on our itinerary and we were in the mood for authentic pasta and pizza!  We have noticed throughout our European adventure, Italian restaurants are a dime a dozen so it didn’t take us long to find one near Anne Frank’s museum.  Autentica cucina Italiana!

Italian food in The Netherlands

After filling up on more carbs (which seems to be the theme this trip) we got back on our tour bus and made our way to the canal ride.  Remember how I mentioned that I have been going to bed too late and waking up too early on this trip?  This is where it really started to catch up with me.  As excited as I was to be in Amsterdam, I was tired, the weather was a bit chilly and there wasn’t much to see….so I fell asleep.  Yup, just a quick cat nap and it was the first time, this whole trip, where I was too exhausted to move.  Coffee wasn’t helping…and what I needed was sleep, even if was just for a few minutes. 

Man, I was tired today...

I woke up just before the stop for the canal cruise and because the boat didn’t leave for 45 more minutes, we took the chance to walk around a bit, explore the open market and look for Starbucks.  No luck on finding a green awning, but we did get a comfy seat on the boat and it gave me enough time to close my eyes, once again.  Now I realize taking these naps was keeping me from seeing a city I have been wanting to visit for years, but I really think I would have snapped from pure exhaustion if I didn’t.  Seeing we were on a boat and my kids were causing me more angst than usual, it was better that I slept then opt to throw one of my little people overboard.

Van Gogh Museum

A little over an hour later we were back where we started and I felt a little more refreshed.   It was about 4:30 at this point and we still had to hit the Van Gogh museum and try our luck at Anne Frank’s museum (which, when we floated by it on the canal tour still had a really long line).  We made our way to the museum, although without a great map, it took us a little while to find it, and paid the entrance fair to get in.  A good travel tip about Amsterdam is that kids under 17 are free for all the museums…score!  Another chance to rack up the “free” that seems to be trending in Amsterdam.  Elise loves “Starry Night” by Van Gogh so she was especially excited to see the exhibits.  Ellie and Grace, who didn’t know that much about Van Gogh, were actually really excited to spend time looking at the paintings, the brush strokes and learning about the man.  Another cool learning experience: Van Gogh painted and spent time in Paris, Antwerp and Amsterdam…all three places we had just been.  Couldn’t have accidentally planned it better!

Ellie recognized the Sunflowers painting from the print her Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Louise has hanging in the classroom so we bought her and the assistants “Sunflower” post it notes in the museum gift shop as well as some other goodies to remember their visit.  I saw a bag I liked that I thought would be good for travelling (remember, I have 2 ½ more weeks of travel in front of me) and while I was looking at it carefully Grace said, “Go ahead and get it mom.  I have been meaning to get you something for your birthday, so I would like to get you this.”  Geesh, Grace so thoughtful of you…now, where did I put my credit card?

New purchases in hand, we were out by about 6:00 and we headed towards Anne Frank’s house to see if the line had diminished at all.  Amsterdam is a great walking city but with three kids who, at this point, are tired not only from the day but from the entire trip, are just about toast.  My cat naps during the day didn’t seem to rejuvenate me enough and I too was dragging.  That goes to show how motivated we all were to see Ms. Frank and her Huis.  We love that girl and wanted to see her museum! 

We trekked through some really shady parts of Amsterdam, witnessed a man peeing in front of us and took in the “smells” of passing, modern day hippies who had just left the coffee shops Amsterdam is famous for.  At one point Carrie B even had a mouthful of second hand smoke fly right up her nostril by a passing pedestrian.  Well, maybe it would help her relax as we moved into the evening a bit. 

A tired Ellie waiting in line

We finally made it over to Anne Frank’s museum around 6:45 and the line was just as long as it was earlier that morning.  The kids were tired and hungry, as were we.  But…we were also a motivated bunch and seeing how much Grace was begging to see the museum, well, let’s put it this way:  It was a welcomed change from the “Please,  mommy, will you buy me that?!?!” or “Why can’t I have the peanut M&Ms for breakfast??  Please?!?!?!”  Hearing, “Please, mommy, can we eat dinner later and go to the Anne Frank Museum, please???  I promise I will be good, please?!?!?!”  Well, with a request like that, who could say no?

The line moved faster than we thought it would and, once again the kids were FREE!  Score.

In a word… the museum was awesome.  In another, powerful.  One more? Moving.  It was one of the best educational experiences any of us have had.  It was, as a teacher, the feeling we all strive for in our students:  The “Ah ha” moment when a concept becomes “real” for a kid and you can see learning seep into their pours.  From the second we walked into the museum, the kids were riveted, focused and completely engaged.  THIS was the purpose of our trip…to give the kids a chance to BE in the learning…to not only hear about a country, a culture or important moments in history, but to SEE, TOUCH and FEEL the places they were learning about.  To connect their learning to a meaningful context…to promote a love for learning that will last a lifetime.  Today, we witnessed this goal being met.  It’s why I became a teacher and one of the reasons I wanted to be a mom. 

Anne Frank

After leaving the museum, it was dark in Amsterdam and the partiers were out in full form.  The walk from the museum to Central Station where we still had to get the train to go to the airport was a long walk.  It was cold and we were not dressed for the weather.  But, evidencing the powerful connections the girls made to Anne Frank’s experiences, none of them complained.  They knew they were lucky and blessed to be born when they were.  They are being given an opportunity to see the world when all Anne wanted, all she longed for, was a chance to breathe a breath of fresh air for even 5 minutes.  They got it without us having to remind them…however, of course, being the nature of a nagging mother, we felt the need to “hit it out of the park” and consistently remind them of how grateful they should be throughout our walk. 

We made it to the train station at about 8:45pm and we still hadn’t eaten.  Upon entering the station, however, we found a great take-away restaurant, Julia’s, which serves fresh pasta in take away Chinese take out containers.  A cool concept, we ate our individual containers of pasta before boarding the train and made the quick journey back to the airport.  Although taking the train back was a bit more work, we still felt great about taking this option vs staying in the city. 

Julia's take away pasta...yummy!

Arriving back in the airport at around 9:30, Carrie and I immediately pulled out our iphones as there is free internet in the Amsterdam airport.  Reading a “What’s App” text from friends and colleagues, I barely noticed the stumbling older man wobbling his way up to the girls.  Carrie, however, was on it and realized this man was clearly either very, very drunk, high, or more.  He was staring at Elise and calling her “his Anna” and scaring all of us.  We quickly lassoed them together and pushed them towards the exit, hoping he wouldn’t follow us.  He didn’t, thank goodness and we walked toward the Hilton, which is about 5 minutes away. 

Seeing that today was chalk full of learning experiences, I took the opportunity to add one more to our day after Ellie asked, “Mom, what was wrong with that man?  Was he a zombie?”  I discussed, as well as I could, the concept of using drugs and why they were dangerous and addictive.  They seemed to understand the basic version of what I was trying to get across.  A good assessment of their understanding?  Ellie turned to me and said, “I hope Grace never gets on those drugs.”  “I hope not either, but why do you say that?” I asked. “Because,” she explained.  “You know Grace, she can never have just one piece of candy.  If she does the drugs, she won’t be able to do just one.  She will do one, then two and then she won’t be able to stop.  Then she will be died.”

Okay, well…seeing the man on drugs wasn’t exactly what we were thinking when we talked about giving them a hands-on learning experience, but a teachable moment none the less.

Good night, Amsterdam.  You wore us out, but you were well worth it.


Some helpful links from Amsterdam!
Van Gogh Museum: www.vangoghmuseum.nl
Anne Frank House: www.annefrank.org 
Hop on Hop Off Bus:  www.citysightseeingamsterdam.nl
Julia's Pasta: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Julias-Pasta-Amsterdam-Centraal-Station/134918349924732