When are cancelled flights ever a good thing? When you get rebooked with a day-long layover between what would otherwise be back-to-back 10 hour flights. That’s exactly what happened a few weeks ago when I was finalizing my trip to Cape Town, and I ended up with a day in Amsterdam.
What does a girl do with an afternoon to herself in Amsterdam? My list was a mile long, and you truly need a few days to get to know this city.
Popular attractions include the Van Gogh Museum and the bloemenmarkt—a floating flower market that closed down a few years ago due to tourists crowding out genuine customers. Amsterdam is a city of one million that receives over twenty million tourists a year.
I had my heart set on the boekenmarkt op het spui, an outdoor secondhand book market alas only open on Fridays, and the palatial library at the Rijksmuseum. But with with just one afternoon, I wanted to spend as much time out of doors as possible, taking in the sight of bicycles zipping over the ancient cobblestone bridges and enjoying a coffee with my feet dangling over the water while boats passed by. I stumbled across the doe maar Noordermarkt—an open-air flea market on the steps of Norderkerk, where vendors were selling everything from fresh baked loaves and cheeses to leather shoes and colourful Nepalese wool. Anne Frank Huis was top of my list, a museum I’ve wanted to visit ever since I read the diary when I was a little girl. Tickets are only available online and they sell out weeks in advance.
Getting into the city:
The sprinter train from Schiphol airport will take you directly to Amsterdam Centraal in about 15 minutes. Round trip tickets are €10.
Some advice:
Don’t go to a coffee shop if it’s a cappuccino you’re after.
Don’t take photos of the women in the windows.
And watch where you step. Bicycles are king and they will pancake you if you are in the way.
Anne Frank Huis
You should know that the annexe is empty. The Nazis tore out the inside of the secret attic after arresting the families in hiding and Otto Frank wanted to preserve it the way it was when he returned after the war. However, the Nazis left behind personal effects—shopping lists and postcards, school books and diary pages, items they didn’t consider valuable. Even their identification cards, stamped with the date of their deportation. There’s still plenty to see. The Opekta and Pectacon warehouses and offices—Otto Frank’s jam preserve and pickling spices companies—are included in the museum.
Anne’s collection of movie star photos that she glued to the wall are still there, as well as pencil markings where Otto tracked her growth during their time in hiding, reminders that two families called the cramped attic with its blackout window coverings home for over two years.
