Anne Frank House and other Amsterdam, Netherlands Things to Do Tips

Anne Frank House hosts a museum on the terrible & short life of the jewish girl Anne Frank who together with her family went into hiding for 2 years during WWII.

It's located in the original house and annex in which the Frank family was hiding for a long time before being caught in 1944. The house has been redecorated so that it looks like in those days. It's quite impressive with Anne's quotes on the walls and films and documents to see.

Then you pass the bookcase that stood in front of the secret door to the annex. You make your way up the steep stairs into the original rooms which is rather depressing (especially if you have read the book!). To see Anne's decorations on the wall and to see how dark it was and how depressing it must have been not to be able to walk out into the sunshine, not to open the windows and to keep quiet all day. Scared of being heard or caught all the time.... Terrible! I almost fainted in these rooms. There were hundreds of people around me but I didn't even realised they were there anymore. I was just too shocked.

In the end you come to another museum part where I was able to breathe again. Here you will find out about the deaths of the people in hiding (only Anne's father survived the concentration camp) and about the story of the book "Anne Frank's Diary".

It took me quite a while to finally see Anne Frank House because the stories of long queues always scared me away. Now that I was back in Amsterdam I really wanted to see it. We went there in the late afternoon on good friday and queued for half an hour maybe so I guess that's ok really. Admission is 7.50 Euro and now that I have seen this place I have to say: It's a must to go. But read the book before!!!

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Phone: +31-20-5567100
Address: Prinsengracht 267
Website: http://www.annefrank.nl

This is a science museum especially for kids. I'd say the best age would be around 10-12. Or then 28, because I really loved it :-))

There are a lot of things to try and do, like making electricity, giant soap bubbles, domino chain reactions, etc etc etc.

Admission is 11 Euro. It's not exactly cheap but worth it. You can easily spend a few hours inside the museum!

Make sure to go on top of the roof after exploring the museum. You can go on top of the roof even without paying in, just walk up the stairs from the outside or take the elevator in the entrance hall! It's a great view from there!

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Directions: 10 mts walk from the main station (Amsterdam Centraal). You can't miss it, it's the green building that looks like the sinking Titanic at the seafront.
Website: http://www.e-nemo.nl

Take a canal bus through the canals. This is a really nice to see and hear about Amsterdam's canals. The canal bus is working as an 'hop on hop off' sightseeing bus. There are three different lines bringing you basically to all places that can be reached by boat.

A day ticket costs 16 Euro. With this you can cruise the canal until the evening. In summer the boats even go in the evenings.

Another way to explore Amterdam would be by paddle boat. You can rent these at some of the Canal Bus stations, too.

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Directions: We bought our day pass opposite the Rijksmuseum. Other stops are for example: Anne Frank House, Leidseplein, Central Station and many others.
Website: http://www.canal.nl

Take a canal boat as soon as the sun goes down. Like this you will see all the beautiful bridges lit up and you can perfectly look into the beautiful appartments of the houses along the canals. However, during the blue hour it's still bright enough to see details of the houses, the sights etc which is better than going in the middle of the night when it's dark I think ;)

The trip we chose cost 8 Euro and it took us around some canals and finally crossed over on the Amstel to behind the station. I am not sure why they always go this way. There's basically nothing to see there ;-) Apart from when you get to NEMO of course....

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Address: Boats leave from Damrak.

This is a crazy day in Amsterdam. Around 750000 people are cruising around the canals and streets of the city - most of them dressed in orange - Holland's national colour.

On this day - which is the birthday of the ex-queen Juliana - everyone is allowed to sell things on the street or perform as well. It's really great to see the people cook in their door and sell food, kids perform their breakdancing tricks or musical skills, all the bars sell drinks outside and if you like you can even throw eggs at people in one place!!

The canals are full with boats of different size and it's great fun watching the people partying on their boats. (I bet it's even more fun being on one of them!)

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Address: Everywhere in the city centre on 30 April.
Other Contact: See my Queensday Travelogue with

Strange fact about this church 1: It is located in the middle of the red light district.

Strange fact about this church 2: Around it there are built several little houses.

Strange fact about this church 3: You can rent it for parties, exhibitions etc.

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Address: Oudekerksplein 1
Other Contact: The church even has its own <a h

The 'skinny bridge' is Amsterdam's oldest bridge. It opens when a big boat wants to pass and it's made of wood.

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Address: Between Kerkstraat and Nieuwekerkstraat.

The architecture of Rijksmuseum and Centraal Station
Both buildings are designed by PJH Cuypers and they look a bit like 'twin brothers'. Rijksmuseum opened first in 1885, the main station was finished in 1889.

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Directions: Rijksmuseum is in Stadhouderskade 42, Centraal Station is in Stationsplein 15.

'Window Shopping' in the Red Light district
Hmmm many windows to look at, some more beautiful, some less beautiful ;-)

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Address: Between the Centraal Station and Nieuwmarkt.
Other Contact: Don't take pictures! Be aware of

Sheepvaart Museum - The maritime museum
There's a boat outside that I wanted to see. It's called 'Amsterdam' and it's a rebuilt of an old boat that sailed to East India. Unfortunately I haven't made it there since it came back from being repaired. But I saw it from the train and it looked HUGE!

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Address: East of the Main Station.