Amsterdam, Netherlands - Part II

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The Netherlands Royal Palace.

I arrived at my hotel the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky. This hotel is situated in the heart of Amsterdam at Dam square, opposite the Royal Palace. It is surrounded by department stores, boutiques and shopping alleys. The back of the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky has its own landing dock for boats. Behind the facade of Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky there are several restaurants. There is the Wintertuin, the glass palace dating from 1879 where breakfast and lunch is served. This is where I had breakfast during mornings I had to go to work. In the lounge you can overlook Dam Square with the Royal Palace while drinking coffee or enjoying high tea. I later saw photographs of German troops in formation in the Dam Square and I wondered if they stayed at my hotel.

The Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky.

View from my room at the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky.

My first day in Amsterdam was a Saturday. I started the day by finding a small restaurant that served Dutch pancakes that reminded me of ones my mother sometimes made. They are thin and served with powered sugar and various jams. The menu was in Dutch, but with the little German I knew from High School and College classes, I was able to guess at what the English equivalent was. I could never understand spoken Dutch, but I could sometimes guess at written Dutch because of its similarity with German. However one night I went to a grocery store to find some snacks and chocolate milk. I found something in a milk carton that said “chocolade” and I assumed it was chocolate milk. When I arrived back at my hotel room, I discovered it wasn’t chocolate milk, but chocolate pudding. Oh well, not what I was looking for, but not bad.

Residential street in Amsterdam

The above is a canal in the middle of Amsterdam.

That same Saturday I then went to the Van Gogh museum. The museum had a special exhibit of Van Gogh and Gauguin. Then later that day I went to the Rijksmuseum. Outside the Rijksmuseum there was an outdoor skating ring with kids skating.

A view of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Outdoor skating ring near the Rijksmuseum

It was sprinkling during the day, but I walked around the city and then caught a taxi to the Anne Frank museum. It was a very interesting but sad experience. When I left the Anne Frank museum, I discovered that her house was only a few blocks from my hotel. So sometimes after work I would walk around the canals and then find the benches outside the Anne Frank house and just sit for a while.

Outside of the Anne Frank house.

In her book she mentions hearing the bells from the nearby church. As I sat on the bench outside of her house, I could hear the same church bells.

Street where Anne Frank lived

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