Once again we are off on a VBT (Vermont Bicycle Tour) trip, this time from Amsterdam to Bruges, Belgium with a few free days at the start to explore Amsterdam. Before we get there, however, we have a five-hour layover in the States between flights, then a three-hour delay due to a maintenance issue which eventually requires boarding, deboarding, and boarding a different plane. So we are late, and tired, and maybe that’s why our first walk in the city in the late afternoon leaves us feeling surreal, like we are in the middle of fairytale land.

It really does look like all the photos I’ve seen previously. Bridges, canals, and quirky buildings.

Earlier we noticed many tall, thin people on our plane and in the airport. Found out that the average height of Dutch men is now the tallest in the world at 6 feet. And the women we saw were pretty tall too. Made me stand up straighter. We have dinner at an Indonesian restaurant – where are we? – and make it back to our hotel for an early night.

Next morning we have tickets to visit the Anne Frank House. It’s the one with nine windows and with a person in an orange sweater in front.

The windows and facade have been renovated. This is a photo of the way the house originally looked.

We walked through the rooms where the families lived in fear for two years and saw where they slept and ate. Such a small place for eight people and they had to be quiet in the daytime because of people working below them. Photos were not allowed but this is one previously taken of the room occupied by Anne’s parents and her older sister.

We saw samples of her writing and although all the furniture had been removed, the pictures of movie stars and other items that Anne had pasted to the wall of her bedroom were still there.

They were arrested in August of 1944 and Anne and her mother and sister were taken to Auschwitz at first. It was reported by a surviving prisoner that the children in that camp were not fed. Later Anne and her sister were sent to Bergen-Belsen where they both died, Anne in February, 1945. Another survivor told of throwing bread over a fence to Anne and how she wore only a blanket because her clothes were infested with lice. Her father was the only survivor and was freed in August of 1945. It was hard to believe that we were really standing in the hidden annex where she wrote in her diary so many years before.

It had been a cool and breezy morning and last night, a storm woke us up. We didn’t realize how bad the storm had been until we took a boat ride on the canals.

Then we saw all the trees that the wind had uprooted and blown over.

Here’s another one. There were so many and later in the afternoon we saw barges removing tree limbs and brush from the canals.

Our boat captain pointed out several items of interest including these houses, called the “dancing” houses for obvious reasons. Over the years they have all settled differently due to the water around them.

He noted that not much “green” could be seen around the houses along the canals and that’s because the gardens are in the back. We saw many nice houseboats similar to this one.

We also went by Seven-Bridges Canal. You can look down the canal and see seven bridges in a row.

He also took us out of the canals towards the locks that opens to the North Sea.

Lunch was at a nearby restaurant after the boat ride.

Ross had his first Holland pancake here.

Then we did a little shopping and I went back to the hotel to catch up on sleep. On the way took a photo of a few of the thousands of bikes we saw all over Amsterdam.

Later we had dinner at Myrabelle’s and it was lovely. Very comfy pub-style after a long day of walking and the food was delicious.