Day 3: Anne Frank House and Den Hague

Day 3: Anne Frank House and Den Hague

We had another big breakfast, then over to the Anne Frank house to get on line for the opening at 9.  We were almost at the head of the line (one couple in front of us) at 8:30.  The weather was beautiful again, but a bit windy and for the Floridians, downright frigid- in the 50’s.  The doors finally opened and we were transported back to 1942.

            Ann Frank was born in Germany, and her family emigrated to Amsterdam in 1933 to escape from Hitler’s anti-Jewish regime.  Her father, Otto, planned to move the family to England, the U.S., or Argentina but was unable to get visas.  In May 1940, the Nazis overran and occupied the Netherlands and implemented anti-Jewish measures.  On July 6, 1942, the Frank family went into hiding  in a building where Otto Frank’s spice business was located at 263 Prisengracht.  The family of four (Otto, his wife, Edith, and their daughters Margot and Anne) hid with 4 others in the upper floors of the building’s annex whose entrance was a secret door behind a bookcase.  On September 3, 1944 the SS raided the building after the Frank family was betrayed.  The 8 peolple in hiding along with the non-Jews that aided them were sent to Aushwitz.  All but Otto Frank died in the concentration camp.  After the war, Otto retrieved Anne’s diary and published it to let the world know what transpired.  The experience is quite moving.  Walking through the house with the blackout curtains up even on a sunny day gives you a sense of what the family might have experienced, the isolation, the sensory deprivation, and the fear of being found out.

It was also a bit unnerving realizing that the Franks were literally only feet from the Westerkerke (the major church in Amsterdam).  We left the Anne Frank house with sobering thoughts.

 At Amsterdam Central Station we boarded a train for the Hague, a 40 minute ride which took us past our 1^st windmills.




The Hague is well known for the International Court of Justice and for several major art museums.  After arrival and getting mildly lost (really bad signage!) we found the M.C. Escher Museum.

M.C. Escher (1898-1972) is well known for his tessellation themes in his prints.  The museum houses a huge number of these prints such as “Night and Day” where Dutch landscapes morph into birds, and “Climbing and Descending” where people are perpetually climbing and descending stairs, both optical illusions based on playing with perspective.  In addition, there is an entire floor of optical illusions that visitors can experience.

            With directions in hand, we set off for another major attraction, the Panorama Mesdag.  Hunger pangs distracted us, and we stopped to have coffee outside in the warm sunshine at the Hilton, just next to the Panorama.  After catching a few rays and resting our legs, we went next door to our planned destination.  Panorama Mesdag is one of the best preserved panoramic paintings from the 1800’s.  It is a circular canvass with a 120m diametersurrounding a raised gazebo and artificial sand dunes that blend into the canvas. The painting was done in 1881 by members of the Haag School led by HW Mesdag.

            Because the main art museum, the Mauritius, was closed and the works moved to a temporary location at the ouskirts of the Hague, we had to forego seeing this.  Instead, we next went to Madurodam, a depiction of the Netherlands in miniature. J.M.L. Maduro designed this miniature reconstruction in memory of his son who died at Dachau.  All proceeds go to children’s charities.  The entire model is in a 1:25 scale and includes Schipol Airport, windmills, canal houses of Amsterdam, and many of the more recognizable building in the Netherlands.  It was getting late, and we needed to make a train to Amsterdam CS, so we braved public transportation to get back to the Hague CS.  A tram stopped right outside Midurodam, but unfortunately, we just missed one, and the next was overcrowded and did not stop.  Meanwhile, Molly and Jeri were freezing.  Finally, we got a tram and caught the next train back to Amsterdam.

            Dinner was at D’Antica Italian Trattoria (you notice we have not had any Dutch food yet other than pancakes)-excellent food but we were a bit put out when after being seated and beginning to have a glass of wine, we were asked to move to a different (and smaller) table, because they made a mistake and gave us someone else’s table.  Not a real great start to dinner, but as I already mentioned, the food was quite good.

            When we returned to the hotel, we asked the concierge to give us some advice about getting to Kukenhoff, the beautiful tulip gardens that we came to see.  We were very excited to get there early, and the weather was suppose to be spectacular.  That’s when the wet blanket came down on us.  The concierge told us that we would be VERY disappointed if we went since all the tulip flowers had been cut  and we were 2 weeks too late.  We knew we were at the tail end, but never imagined that there would be NOTHING!  Mid-April is the time to go.  Looks like we will explore Amsterdam a bit more tomorrow.