Travel Day May 26th

Tuesday May 26, 2026

Long day of travel! Up at 2:30 to be ready for a 3:30 taxi pickup. Flight was at 7:00 (hotel staff said we needed to be at airport 3 hours before departure). The first leg of our journey was Amsterdam to Zurich and then Zurich to Cape Town. Everything went smoothly until we boarded our flight to Cape Town when the captain informed us they had a problem with the lock on the cabin door and needed to have it fixed before takeoff. After sitting on the plane for an hour, we finally took off for our 11+ hour flight. By the time we got through customs, picked up our luggage, connected with our driver and drove to our hotel it was almost midnight. The good news is our hotel is lovely, staff is friendly, and our room is spacious. Glad this day was finally over though!

Amsterdam, May 25th

Monday, May 25, 2026

Busy day today! Found a self-service laundry this morning and washed all our clothes before our departure for Cape Town tomorrow. While at the laundromat, we met a couple from California who happened to live in Danville (where Ashley’s in-laws live), who happened to live in the same development as Lee and Mary, who were also once dental patients of Lee’s, now patients of Brent’s brother Garrett. What a small world!

After finishing our laundry and having lunch, we took a walk through Amsterdam’s charming Jordaan neighborhood with its picturesque canals and winding cobblestone lanes. The highlight of the day (and the most impactful) was our visit to the Anne Frank House in the late afternoon. 

From July 1942 to August 1944, the Frank family and four other Jews lived in a secret annex behind the offices of the Opecta company. Access to the annex from the office building was via a swinging bookcase that hid the original entrance to the annex. It’s hard to imagine 9 people living in a space less than 1,000 square feet for two years trying to stay quiet during the day (including not flushing the toilets) so people in the adjoining offices wouldn’t hear them. When they were arrested in August 1944, the allies had landed in Normandy and the tide was turning in their favor. 

After the Frank family were sent to Westerbrook, a concentration camp northeast of the city, they were then transported on the last train to Auschwitz in Poland. Anne and her sister Margot were then moved to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. Of the 9 people living in the secret annex, only Anne’s father, Otto Frank, survived. Anne and Margot died of typhus within days of each other in March 1945, just weeks before the camp was liberated by British soldiers. After evading the Nazis for two years, it’s tragic they were arrested at a time when the Germans were losing the war and would soon cease the transport of prisoners to Auschwitz.

One of the many stalls in Amsterdam's
flower market

View of one of Amsterdam's many canals and
the Jordaan neighborhood

In the 1934 picture Anne is the second from left

This child was so full of life!

The second building (brick facade)
is the back of the secret annex which
was hidden from the street

Amsterdam, May 24rh

Sunday May 24, 2026

We had reservations this morning for a guided tour at the Rijksmuseum at 11:45 am. This museum houses paintings by Dutch masters such as Vermeer, Steen, and Rembrandt (there are even a few Van Gogh paintings here). Since we had just visited the Van Gogh museum the day before, I thought we could find the Rijksmuseum with no problem, although I did start the GPS on my phone before we left the hotel. We've been having problems accessing cell service outside the hotel (too long a story to explain) but have found if we start our GPS while we're still connected to the hotel's WiFi service, we can track ourselves on the map. The problem was that somehow, I had the wrong destination entered (and once we were outside the range of the hotel's WiFi, I couldn't change the destination). I didn't realize this until we were 10 minutes into our walk (I thought it was taking us a different way than the way we had gone the day before). By the time we figured out where we were (thank goodness we had brought a paper map with us) and how to get to the museum, we were again running (ok, fast walking) to get to the museum in time for our guided tour. We arrived panting at the museum entrance and barely caught up with the tour group before they left the gathering point. Our guide was a museum employee who was also an art historian. She was able to point out a number of things and/or symbolisms in the paintings we would have otherwise missed. Below are some of the paintings we saw. Rembrandt's famous painting The Night Watch was also on display, but we were unable to photograph it as it was being refurbished behind a glass enclosure.

These two paintings are by Van Gogh.
The bottom painting is of the 
Rijksmuseum in the 1880's
when Van Gogh visited as an
unknown artist

 

The museum's hallways are filled with
stained glass windows depicting famous
artists as saints

Vermeer's Milkmaid with its vibrant
yellow and blue colors

Amsterdam, May 23rd Afternoon

 Saturday May 23, 2026

We spent a few hours Saturday afternoon on what was described as an Anne Frank Walking Tour. It didn't include a tour of the Anne Frank house itself (we have tickets for that Monday evening), but it was a fascinating way to learn about the impact the Nazi invasion had on the people of The Netherlands and Amsterdam itself. Of the 80,000 Jews living in Amsterdam prior to WWII, somewhere between 60,000 to 65,000 were deported to concentration or extermination camps. Over 80% of these Jews didn't survive.

There's a statue of Anne Frank in Westermarkt Square, around the corner from where the Frank family hid from the Nazis for 2 years.

During our walking tour we passed by the Jewish synagogue, saw examples of the Holocaust stumbling stones, created by German artist Gunter Deming, and visited the Holocaust memorial which lists the names of all those who died in concentration camps during WWII. It was a truly sobering experience. Never again!

Examples of the Holocaust Stumbling Stones: it begins with 
"Here lived" followed by the person's name, birth year, when
they were deported, when they died and where

Amsterdam, May 23rd

 Saturday May 23, 2026

We were up early and on our way to the Van Gogh museum by 8:00 am for a 9:00 am timed entry visit. We've seen a number of Van Gogh's works at exhibits that have come to Portland, have walked the streets of Arles visiting the sites of some of his more famous paintings, and have even visited the Saint-Paul asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence where Van Gogh self-admitted himself in 1889, so we are fascinated by this 19th c. artist and were looking forward to seeing some works we had never seen before. 

All of Van Gogh's art in the Amsterdam museum were pieces he had sent to his younger brother Theo, who was an art dealer in Paris, in the hopes that Theo could sell them. Sadly, none of Van Gogh's work sold during his lifetime. Below are photos of some paintings we had never seen before and one that is an iconic Vincent Van Gogh piece. 

The Potato Eaters: Painted early in Van Gogh's
career when he was living with his parents
in Nuenen

The Old Church Tower at Nuenen: Painted
shortly after the death of Van Gogh's
father

The Bedroom: Van Gogh's bedroom in Arles

Sunflowers: Besides self-portraits,
Van Gogh's signature subject

Almond Blossoms: Painted for his brother Theo and
his wife upon the birth of their son, shortly before
Van Gogh's death in 1890

Amsterdam, May 21 - May 22

 Thursday May21, 2026

We made it to Amsterdam with only one small hiccup today. Our flight out of Portland left on time yesterday and arrived in Chicago early; early enough that we had a gate change that put us in a different terminal and 20 minutes away from our departing flight. The plane at our new gate had a flat tire which they had to fix before they could board passengers which left us sitting on the tarmac for 30+ minutes. Once we had the okay to move to our gate it took us at least another 20 minutes to taxi there. I knew O’Hare was a large airport, but I have a new appreciation for how big it is! 

Long story short, by the time we were able to leave the plane, we had less than 20 minutes to get to our departing flight before they closed the doors. Running through the O’Hare airport at breakneck speed (for a 75 and 81-year old) was not a feat I want to repeat. We were definitely the last ones to board. Thank goodness the rest of the journey was uneventful.

Friday May 22, 2026

Amsterdam is a very busy city! I’ve never seen so many bicycles in one place in my entire life. There are more bikes in this city than there are cars and when crossing a street one has to be on the alert for bikes zipping by or you may get run over!

One of many decorated bikes placed 
strategically throughout the city

Our hotel is in the heart of Old Town, making it very convenient to the major sites we want to see: the Anne Frank House, the museums (Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum) and Amsterdam’s infamous Red Light District. Today we took a city walk tour and then wandered through the city by ourselves. We learned a bit about the city's history and its construction, were surprised by The Netherlands' laws regarding the sex trade and marijuana use, and saw some of Amsterdam's major sights, such as the Royal Palace and Dam Square. 

During the 1600's Amsterdam was the
richest city in the world, due in part to
the spice trade of the East India Company.
 This building was the company's original
headquarters.

The "Dancing Ladies of Amsterdam" so named because
of their wobbly appearance. Structures in Amsterdam are 
built on wooden logs or concrete pillars sunk into the mud.
Over time, many houses have sunk from their original foundations,
 causing them to lean or "wobble".