Netherlands

 Good morning from Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. I googled that. I did not come up with that on my own. I arrived at 8am Netherlands time (and 2am CST).  Believe me I wanted a nap, but you just can not do that when you have only 26 hours to explore a country. After storing my luggage at the airport, I caught a train to Haarlem. The usually 15 minute ride was actually 40 because of construction on the direct route. But that was actually the best thing because the train went out into the countryside, along the green patchwork fields, canals, cows, and windmills. A farmer was spreading compost with his tractor, cows grazing in the green grass, and beautiful strips of flowers on a flower farm is what I saw through my train window. Once I got off the train and into the fresh air, I smelled the familiar smell of Europe. I wonder if every European country smells like this? The smell of foreign colognes and light cigarette smoke mixed with fresh air seems familiar in a way. I walked the streets of Haarlem and found myself in a darling coffee cafe. I ordered an espresso with milk and an apricot almond bread. I sat and just enjoyed the peaceful sounds around me. The different European accents and the sound of bicycles wizzing by was a great background noise while I did some homework. The sun shone in the open door, and a customers dog wondered around and sat by me for awhile. Such a good change from the chaos that work has been lately. After the coffee, I wondered around Haarlem looking at the beautiful buildings. I noticed there were no tourist or souvenir shops in this area. While I am sure there are department stores in the city, these tall narrow brick shops were cheese shops, a leather shoe shop, a leather bag shop, and a plant shop.  I passed buy Corrie ten booms home, where her family who were Christian’s hid Jews. It is booked 3-4 months out so I was not able to go inside. It was a sobering thought to think of all the people who died during that era, whether they were Jews, or people trying to help them. It showed the spot along the wall in the alley by the house where there family was arrested and taken away. Just down from there was a bread shop on the corner. They had every kind of bread, rolls and croissant. They told me they were all made fresh this morning and were organic. I walked down to the square where the cathedral is. This is where the bells of old Haarlem is from. I walked around inside and looked at the intricate woodwork of the ceiling. The massive organ on one end was played by Mozart when he was 10. It reached all the way to the peak of the church. The floor was large rectangles of polished black stone. Many of them had engravings of letters and numbers on them. These were covers of the graves of many people who are buried beneath the church. Just after I stepped outside, it was noon. The bells chimed and played a beautiful song. 

    I made my way back to the train station and took a train back to the airport to meet Katelyn. Once we found each other, we hopped a train for the Amsterdam Central station. I just cannot put into words how things look here. But imagine massive brick and stone buildings. With intricate details and lots of windows. There are massive turrets and towers with clocks. Almost every house has a beam out the front with a hook. Back in the day, the people of this area were determined to take over the spice market of Europe. They did, but mostly by demanding and taking spices from Africa without payment. They then would take them by boat from South Africa to Europe which could take 2-4 years. In Europe, people would store these spices on the top floor of there house. This was because of frequent flooding because everyone’s house was along the canals. It’s amazing to me that almost every house had a hoist and must have stored spices. The company ended up being huge, called the Dutch East Indian Company. It was worth several trillion dollars and was worth more than google and amazon combined. Property tax was charged by street front length. This is why these houses are very narrow, but very tall and deep. Most would be 5 stories tall. The bottom floor is accessed from steps that go down from the street to a short door. This was for the servants to live in and they had to bow down every time they went through the door. The fronts of the buildings are mostly covered in windows, as the sides of the houses are against each other making it impossible to get natural light. 

    We found a shop to get fish and chips from, then wondered around the area looking at the many houseboats that line the canals and stopping at the shop windows to see what they were selling. We walked in the Jordaan area which was the Jewish quarter. Once the Germans had invaded, they had made the lives of the Jews unlivable. From taking away their business, not allowing them to go to a business, and taking away their bicycles which are a staple here. And still are. There are hundreds of bikes lining the streets everywhere. The Germans eventually herded all the Jews to only a certain part of the city to be away from society which was the Jewish quarter.

We had a canal tour booked, so we made our way to the canal and got on a cute old wooden boat. We traveled along and learned more of the history of Amsterdam and the Canals. There is over 75km of canal and all were hand dug. They say there’s a meter of mud at the bottom, a meter of water on top and a meter of bicycles in the middle. They lose 1,000 a year to the canal. After our delightful tour it was getting pretty chilly. We walked to our hotel which is two of those tall thin houses. We checked in, then went outside to the house directly beside it up to the fourth floor. The narrow curving staircase was so steep it was basically a ladder. Our window over looks the canal. The old fashioned street lamps are on and the bridges are lined with lights that sparkle on the water. After dressing a bit warmer, we walk down to a small restaurant. It serves authentic food from the area. We got sausage and mashed potatoes and chicken schnitzel with farmers potatoes. It was very delicious. While the food is very similar to Swiss food, it is much more flavorful. Next we walked down to the Anne Frank house. We had made reservations several months ago. If you ever decide to come here it is absolutely worth it. And they only have reservations available to book about three months ahead, and they are booked very quickly. We sat through a presentation of Anne and her family. We then toured the museum and then the house where they lived. Her father owned a business called Pekton I believe which was like Pectin used in jams. He had two tall houses together for his business. Once he realized that they may need to go into hiding, he let 4 of his workers in on the secret of the annex. It was accessible by going into one of there offices through the bookcase, and then there were 2 floors and an attic I believe. The square footage was very small. There was a small countertop sink and stove in the one room as well as a sink and toilet in another. It is unknown how the Nazis found them, but it was Dutch police and the Nazis that arrested them. The Nazis would pay the Dutch police a lot of money to find Jews, so they often took advantage of this and arrested their citizens. Only Anne’s father survived, and when he came back, almost everything in their home was taken. He was given the diary and notebooks of Anne’s by his former secretary, who took and hid them when the family was taken. He eventually read them, and had them published. He had the museum opened about 15-20 years later. He requested that the rooms remain bare, just like they had been after the Nazis had taken their things. There are still markings on the wall where they had measured their height throughout the time there, as well as pictures and newspaper clippings that were pasted to the walls in the room Anne shared with her sister for awhile. The museum mostly tells the story, as there is little artifacts left. A few papers, her diary, and her box of marbles she gave her next door friend when they left to go into hiding. The camp Anne was in was liberated 3 weeks after her and her sister died of sickness. Being in the city and seeing the house where the Jews feared for there lives and were taken and tortured buts the war into a whole new perspective. The evil that went on was absolutely horrifying. And the fact that many people did not even know the reality of the concentration camps and what was happening there is very sad. That was one of the most memorable places I have been to. 

  We walked back along the canals to our hotel and called it a day. I logged 21,767 steps that day. 

Next destination: Uganda till December!