Going Dutch (and Belgian) Part V: The Anne Frank House

Alternate Title: Remember

When I was young, I went through a period where I read countless books about the holocaust. For whatever reason, I wanted to understand it and know what people went through. Yet I never read the most famous book about the holocaust, Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank.

I know the story. We read an abridged play in school. But lacking all the details did not at all stop the impact of visiting the Anne Frank House.

Fair warning, this post isn’t the play by play I usually give about my travels. It’s more of me trying to express what I felt as I walked through the secret annex. It’s a bit disjointed, and occasionally poorly articulated; but it’s me.

The first thing you notice is the emptiness. Not a single piece of furniture. This is purposeful. Otto Frank, Anne’s father, requested that the house never be furnished. When the inhabitants were captured the Nazis ransacked the hiding place and took everything out. Otto decided it should stay like that. People need to remember how much was taken by the Nazis.

That struck a chord with me. This place isn’t a museum to be ogled. It’s a place to remember, to reflect. You can see the building, the place where they lived, but little of the people who lived there. Because they were taken, never to be brought back.

I was also struck by a map on the wall. Torn from a newspaper Otto used it to track the Allies progress after landing in Normandy.

Each pin on that map was a little bit more hope. Belief that the end was near, and freedom would come again. Everyone thinks of how tragic it is that Anne died mere weeks before Bergen Belsen was liberated. But I don’t think enough people think of this map.

A map where eight people quietly tracked their possible liberators and hoped that life could go back to normal. This map doesn’t show blind hope, but fact. The inhabitants of the annex knew that people were coming to help. They were watching it inch nearer. Only for them to be too late.

In Anne and Fritz’s room was the most personal thing left. Anne’s photo collection. She glued them onto the walls to try and bring in some normalcy and joy.

It was so normal. Newspaper cuttings and postcards of celebrities. Stuff we all have. At the end of the museum there is a video of different people talking about Anne Frank. They emphasize how normal she was. Just a typical teenager going through something terrible.

Her collection really showed this. She wasn’t special. She had a talent for writing maybe, but in the end, she was just another girl caught up in a horrible time.

Some of the clippings were torn or ripped from the wall. I couldn’t help but wonder how they fell. Maybe it was the Nazis. Maybe age. Maybe Anne got sick of them. We’ll never know.

This place used to be something. A home. Maybe a cramped unpleasant one. But it was a home nevertheless. Only the people that lived there knew what it was meant to look like. Only they could say what these torn pictures once were. Unfortunately, those people are gone.

Out of the eight people hiding in the annex only one survived. As I left the museum and saw the original copy of Anne’s diary on display, I wondered what could have been.

What if Anne had survived? Would she have published her diary as she had planned, or would she have had something else to say? What if Otto had died? Would Miep, who found Anne’s diary, have published it herself?

The world is full of “would haves” and “what ifs” and I think we all need to be reminded of that on occasion. Some people don’t want to visit things like the Anne Frank house because they are sad. And they are, I can’t deny that. But I think it’s important to go and mourn what might have been.

Unbeknownst to me, barely a day before I visited this memorial, nearly twenty people were hurt or killed in a shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburg. Because they were Jewish.

This house wasn’t meant as a museum but as reminder, a warning. A warning we seem to be ignoring. The people who died in that synagogue probably don’t have diaries. The world will inevitably forget them.

As I mourned the past at the Anne Frank house, tragedy struck the present. I don’t really have more to say about that because what can I say? Some of the things that happen defy explanation or even reflection. I don’t have the words to explain how things like this make me feel, other than that I am disgusted.

I shouldn’t have to be struck by the cruel irony of the situation and those people should not have died for their beliefs. Some people try so hard to remind the world of the mistakes made in the past. We try to fight against the hate in society, but sometimes it just doesn’t work.

The Anne Frank house didn’t make me sad. It made me reflective, but not truly sad. The fact that people have not learned from the past, that Anne wasn’t the last person to die for her beliefs did. I don’t understand the hate for the “other” that plagues the world today. I hope that I never will. I hope that someday, the message left by Anne and Otto will be recognized by everyone and no more memorials will need to be made.

No pictures today. You are allowed to take them; no signs were stopping me. I was stopping me, it didn’t seem right. The audio guide was silent inside the annex and my phone stayed in my pocket. It wasn’t the time to ogle as a tourist. It was a time to feel as a person.

Going Dutch (and Belgian) Part IV: Amsterdam

Alternate Title: #strooplife

Amsterdam, the city of temptation and parties. Don’t get excited, I did none of that. I considered getting something from a coffeeshop (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) but it was never a good time.

I did so much wandering and walking in Amsterdam. My legs better be so ripped now. Basicaly my friends and I were too cheap to buy tram tickets, and it took a half hour to walk to the center sooooo… leg day every day.

Day one was all wandering once we made it to the hostel from the bus. Our hostel was actually a legit hotel that just rented out its worst rooms as dorms. This meant that, praise the lord, we had an elevator. Which is great because A. Amsterdam stairs are steep as heck, and B. We were on the 4th floor, that’s five flights of demon stairs.

The canals of Amsterdam are gorgeous especially in the sunshine or early evening. Much of my wandering was spent appreciating the sparkling water. The one thing Amsterdam is missing is more benches to appreciate the beauty of their water.

Day 2 in Amsterdam was jam packed. It started with me getting a picture of the I Amsterdam sign in the early morning before it was packed with tourists. Apparently I did it just in time. When we left Amsterdam the sign was covered up. They are changing the iconic sign to say “I am dream” which doesn’t make sense, like why? I’m disappointed in Amsterdam’s poor marketing team. But I digress.

We then headed to the Dam square to meet for a free walking tour. Unfortunately, we were short on time so I couldn’t stop at the Dam coffeeshop or the Dam giftshop, really a tragedy.

The tour was hosted by Sandleman’s tours, the same company we used in Brussels. Our guide, Kendra, was excellent. Not only did she give us a tour, she also taught my friend how to vote absentee for the American elections. Double win.

I’m gonna blow your m8nd with this fact I learned on the tour. Are you ready? In Amsterdam. Weed. Is.  illegal. That’s not a typo kids, pot is illegal in Amsterdam. Everything you ever knew was a lie.

But Becca, you say, why is there so much weed then? Well, dear reader, the police on the Netherlands just don’t care. One day they decided  to just let people do as they do, but they couldn’t be bothered to change the law.

Prostitution on the other hand is legal. Why? So they can pay taxes. Apparently, tax evasion is the most frequently performed crime in the Netherlands so the Dutch need more ways to fill their treasury. Side note, that’s also why houses are thin, people were taxed by house width.

After our walking tour, we went to the Van Gogh Museum. Impressionism has always been my favorite style so even though the ticket was expensive (€18, ew) I was still willing to go.

I’m glad I did because I had an awesome time. First, we went and saw the exposition on Gaugin and Laval. I forgot how much I like Gaugin. He has a great style.

That room also had some letters that were sent between Van Gogh, his brother, Gaugin, and others. They were in French so I could actually read them. The subject matter was a bit dull, but reading a letter penned by Van Gogh himself was pretty neat.

Then there was a weird section called Dreams. It was decorated rooms meant to symbolize Van Gogh’s decent into depression. Also meant as an instagram spot, I think. It was a cool area, if a little weird in an otherwise standard art museum.

Next up the permanent collection of all of Van Gogh’s stuff. I forgot just how many self portraits he did until I was standing in a room surrounded by them. So many Vincents.

At one point the museum had paper and pencils you could take to draw the artwork. I’ve always seen art students drawing in museums but never had the forethought to do it myself. So this was perfect.

Now, my sketch was no masterpiece, but it was fun. It was calming to look right at the work of a master and try to interpret it onto my own page. Not to mention I now have a pretty cool souvenir.

From Van Gogh we went to dinner. While there, we decided to try to get tickets to the Anne Frank house. Since it’s so small they have time slots with certain amounts of tickets available. 80% of tickets are sold two months in advance and 20% the day of.

Since I only planned the trip a few weeks in advance, I was unprepared with Anne Frank tickets. So I got to check for them every few hours. Luckily, we were able to snag a few for 8pm. The museum left me with a lot of thoughts to share, so I wrote another post about it, look for that soon.

Our third day was pretty chill. We started by going to the Albert Cuyp market to get fresh stroopwaffle.

A good stroopwaffle is akin to ambrosia. Am I exaggerating? Yeah, probably, but that doesn’t stop the fact that I really love stroopwaffle. Which is a great thing to love because it’s real cheap. You can by a pack of twelve at the supermarket for less that 2 euros. And, even better, prepackaged stroopwaffle, in my opinion, is just as good as fresh. Needless to say I bought too much stroop in the Netherlands, but hey I gotta live that #strooplife.

Stroopwaffle in hand we wandered around Amsterdam for a while. It’s a very beautiful city so wandering the canals is no hardship. After a good long walk we decided to go to the Moco art museum.

The Moco is a modern museum with mostly street art, focusing a lot on Banksy. I know that Banksy would be horrified that I paid money to see his work, but I’m glad I did. I’ve always liked the street art style, but never had much opportunity to see it so the Moco was a good choice.

One of the coolest things in the museum was their app. If you downloaded their phone app and pointed it at a picture the picture would move. A bit gimmicky, but it was also really neat. It made the pictures a little more fun and helped express their essences even more. Unfortunately, they didn’t use the app on a lot of pictures, which I thought was a shame.

I also got to discover some new artists that I really liked. They had a lot of stuff made by Icy and Sot, a pair of brothers from Iran who made statement pieces about living in the middle eastern society and later about being refugees in America and living in New York. They had a beautiful style and I loved the messages that came through their work. It’s cool to expand my artist knowledge base.

After the museum we headed home for the night and had a nice relaxing evening. That was pretty much Amsterdam. I really enjoyed my time there. It might be known for parties and promiscuity, but I found it calm and peaceful. True, I never really went to the Red Light District, but I didn’t feel the need to.

Amsterdam is big and diverse enough that you can experience it however you want to. There is no right way to see it. I’m sure some of you are bemoaning the fact that I missed such and such museum, or whatever landmark, but I’m not. I experienced Amsterdam the way I wanted to and I had a great time. Just because some tourist blog says you have to do “insert thing here” doesn’t mean you do.

My goal is always to go to a city and just be there for a few days. I’ll hit some tourist attractions and whatnot, but I have yet to go somewhere and feel cheated because I skipped some activity. So next time you go in vacation, don’t worry about what you are doing. Just enjoy being there.

Amsterdam

Van Gogh Museum

Moco

Going Dutch (and Belgian) Part III: Bruges

Alternate Title: In Bruges (No, Not the Movie)

After a morning at European Parliament it was off to Bruges. We did some great wandering the first night starting with some hot fries.  Make sure not to call them french fries in Belgium or you’ll get in trouble with the Belgians. Just say fries or be British and get some chips.

During our wander we found a free harp concert. With no other plans, we went in, I’m really glad that we did.

My best friend is mastering in harp right now, so I am no stranger to the instrument. I thought I knew what the harp is capable of and how it can be used. But this guy really changed my perspective.

He used harps from across the world. Including a recreation of an ancient Mesopotamian harp that he made himself. It blows my mind that people can recreate old instruments and then compose music for them.  He was so creative in using the harps in unconventional ways and creating entirely new instruments in order to expand his possibilities.

At our hostel we heard more live music at the Jam session that was going on. I love hearing musicians improv together. People are so talented and diverse it what they have to offer to a song. Seeing it evolve from a beat into a whole song is amazing.

I’ve never been much of a concert goer. I’ll go to support a friend or hang out with friends, but I’ve never been passionate about listening to music. But there is definitely something to seeing someone who is passionate. A good musician shows their joy and passion on their face and watching them perform what they love is always nice. All the musicians I saw were performing because they loved to. Not just for money or acclaim, but because they wanted to share with the world and let everyone experience their love and passion.

The next morning started with some art. My friend really wanted to see some paintings by Van Eyck, so we went to the Groeninge museum. They had lots of cool paintings there.

It was mostly old religious art which is not my fav, but they had some cool modern stuff too sometimes I feel like I understand modern art, but other times I haven’t got a clue what they’re doing.

I’m the sort of person that wants to be an art snob but doesn’t have it in them. I’ve always loved drawing and painting so when I go to an art museum, I feel like I understand the art better for it. I know how hard it is to capture color and light so seeing others do so so masterfully is insane. I’ll look at a painting and ignore the subject completely just to gawk at the color of the sky, or the shadow of the mountain. I often like the technique better than the painting itself.

From art it was on to history. We went to another walking tour. This one was the Legends of Bruges tour with Landers. He did a pretty good job. As the name suggests it was more local myths and legends than facts.

I think overall, I prefer fact tours. I love spouting random facts and sharing my bizarre collection of knowledge with friends and family. But I liked learning the stories passed down amongst the bruggians as well. According to Landers, most people in the town know the stories, so now I’m basically a bruggian.

Next we went to a Cat café. I’ve heard of many a cat café it’s the new big thing amongst the animal people. Unfortunately, most of our cats were pretty shy, but I got some good hot chocolate and had some interesting conversation with the other assistants.

Last adventure of the day was to the Basilica of Holy Blood. They had, you guessed it, holy blood there. To be specifically a vial of the blood of Jesus Christ brought to Bruges after the second Crusade.

I don’t know if I believe it is truly the blood of Christ, but I know others do. With religion fact is not what matters, belief is. This blood was holy not because of historical accuracy but because people have made it so,

Regardless of the truth this place was special. People came from all over to see this and feel closer to god. It was a beautiful church with a very calming atmosphere. As I try to do in any especially holy place, I lit a candle for my Grandma. Even if I’m not sure I believe, she would have. And that’s all what matters.

That’s really it for Bruges. I did some more wandering and bought some Belgian chocolate. Then it was on to Amsterdam.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned, but Belgium hates being open. Museums and such all close at 5 or 6 at night, and open at 10 or so. When my friend and I walked to our bus at 8 am, the streets were empty. If was like a ghost town, you’d have thought it was 3am instead of 8.

We made it through the ghost town and on to Amsterdam. Belgium was a great time, hopefully I’ll go back one day.

 

Going Dutch (and Belgian) Part II: Ghent

Alternate Title: Ghent-in Medieval

We started our trip to Ghent by struggling. Typical. For whatever reason we couldn’t figure out which way was quicker on the metro, so we got on one way and then changed our minds and tried to switch. We then waited for the other line just for it to never come. There seemed to be something wrong on the tracks, so we switched back.

It was a classic case of “should’ve trusted our instincts. Sometimes you are better off committing to a slightly more difficult/longer way than trying to self-correct halfway through. While travelling all that really matters is the end result, not how long it took to get there.

Eventually we made it to the train station. We then got the happy surprise that tickets for young people to Ghent were only €12 instead of €18. Gotta pinch every penny. I don’t know what I’ll do when I come to Europe after I pass age 26. Youth discounts here are my favorite thing.

First stop in Ghent was the castle, Gravensteen. Ticket price came with a comedy audio tour. It was interesting, cheesy, but with good information. It also added a lot of stories about the people who lived there.
It’s important to add people to history. Sometimes you forget that this huge monument was a home.

My favorite part of the castle was being up on the turrets overlooking the city. It felt as though you could see everything. It might have been cloudy but that didn’t diminish the view. Clouds are inevitable in Europe, never let them stop you from going up to see the view somewhere.

It was a medieval castle and made me a bit chateau sick for Angers. The winding stairs of the towers really sent me back to my days in Angers. Hopefully I’ll get up there for a visit soon.

After the castle we got some cheap lunch at Soup Lounge. €5.50 for soup an apple and bread, definitely a deal. Belgium is expensive, so cheap non-fry food is awesome.

Then it was time for my favorite activity: wandering.

Wandering is great because A: it’s free, and B: you never know what you’ll find. I’ve found most of my most interesting sites by aimlessly wandering cities. I would suggest trying to contain your wandering to the center of town, as wandering through neighborhoods and industrial areas can get boring (trust me I’ve tried).

We stumbled into a park with a terrifying statue in it. There was a creepy smiling child with fetuses springing up around her like a flower. The sign was in Dutch, so we were afraid we’d never understand it. But then we discovered the free art gallery next door.

Inside a woman explained how it represented children being the seeds of joy being spread to the world. A nice message for a creepy statue. Meaning isn’t everything in art, execution can really make or break a statue.

We then wandered into Saint Bavo’s Cathedral. The upstairs was very beautiful, but I really liked the crypt. They had a sort of museum there with old chalices and bibles and stuff. I even had a very knowledgeable catholic friend who explained some of the stuff I didn’t know.

I know I visit a button of churches, but they are all interesting in their own way. I’m fascinated by how people can worship and show their appreciation for god in such varied yet similar ways.

After the church we found the graffiti alley. Apparently, Ghent got tired of cleaning graffiti, so they set aside a special alley for artists to go nuts. I liked seeing how people worked on each other’s tags and brought the alley to life.

After that it was back to Brussels and my Atomium picnic. I really enjoyed Ghent. It had one of my favorite monuments: a castle, and some really cool architecture. It was also very different from Brussels. Weird how less than half an hour away from a city you can feel almost like you are in a different country.

Going Dutch (and Belgian) Part I: Brussels

Alternate title: The Atomiumiumium

If the French know one thing, it’s how to take time off. I got a whole two weeks off for the Toussaint vacation. Over the course of this year I’ll get three more two-week breaks. And what does one do with time off in Europe? Travel.

To avoid travelling alone, I put a post on the TAPIF Assistant page asking if anyone wanted to join me on a trip to Belgium and the Netherlands. I ended up with a lot of replies, and a lot of friends. Participating in the TAPIF program means you have an automatic network of people to meet and spend time with. During the trip I met loads of people, some who I had planned to meet and others completely at random. It was an excellent experience.

I did end up travelling with two people from Aix, which was nice since me and one other girl travelled up to Brussels together for our first stop.

When we arrived in Brussels we started with my favorite thing, getting lost. When we stepped off the bus we were immediately jumped by another girl from our assistant group. Coincidentally, we had taken the same plane without knowing. So, the three of us set off, each assuming one of the others was leading. After 10 minutes we realized our error and pulled up a map.

I really enjoyed our hostel in Brussels. We stayed at Hello Hostel which had the best perk: free breakfast. The common area was nice, and all my roommates were cool. Two of them were also in my assistant group, so that made planning easier.

After dropping our bags at the hostel, a bunch of us set out to the center to get dinner and wander a bit. We had some Thai from a street where it every restaurant seemed to be Asian food. I don’t know how they stay open.

Then we got to see the Grand Place for the first time. It’s called the most beautiful square in Europe and I agree. Especially at night with the buildings lit up and the gold shining. It’s absolutely stunning.  We wandered for a bit longer on the dark and got a feel of Brussels and then went to bed

Day 1

My full day in Brussels started with a free walking tour. We had a tour with Peter from Sandeman’s Free Walking Tours. He was very funny and knew a lot about Brussels and Belgian history.

Our first stop was the Grand Place. He pointed out the building where Karl Marx once lived. He’d been exiled and could stay in Belgium so long as he stayed out of politics. So, obviously he found some friends and started drafting the Communist Manifesto. The Belgians didn’t love that, so he was kicked out of the city.

Next up was the world renowned Manneken Pis. The internet fondly calls it one of the most disappointing tourist traps. In one if very few cases, the internet was right.

The stories behind it are excellent though. Firstly, I got an etymology lesson. One theory as to why there is a peeing baby fountain is because this is where poor people used to sell their urine to tanners. Thus, the phrase “piss poor” meaning you are so broke you’re willing to sell your urine.

 

Next story is that while France was ruling Brussels King Louis the XV decided to try to get the natives on his side. How do you do this? Humiliate your soldiers stationed there. So, he knighted the Manneken Pis.

Why knight a peeing baby? Because then every soldier who walked by would have to stop and salute it. But you can’t knight a naked baby, so they dressed it up.

And so, a tradition was born where every now and then they dress up a naked baby statue in all manner of costumes. He has over 700 and an official tailor. If you ever think your town has a stupid tradition, remember the Manneken Pis.

Another cool thing we saw on the tour was a big mural. There are several murals of comic book characters all over Brussels. This one features a couple walking on the river. The thing is, everyone thought they were two boys. This is not true, but nonetheless started a movement. The gays flocked to the area and started the gay district in Brussels. Gotta love a good story of a gay takeover.

After the tour I had my first Belgian waffle and fries. I never thought of fries as a meal before, but if you eat enough you will get full. My first waffle was a Brussels style waffle. After further investigation, I found that I like the Liege style waffle better. And, although toppings are nice; straight waffle is plenty.

Next up was the Brussels museum. My favorite part wasn’t even the museum, but the conversation. In the big group of assistants we had accumulated we had several nationalities: American, Canadian, Irish, and English. This led to discussing differences, in politics, religion, and general thought processes.

I’ve never been one to chat with random people while travelling, but I think I should start. It’s so interesting to hear different perspectives and meet people. Travelling is such an intense experience that I feel as though I really know the friends I made. More than just fleeting acquaintances, even though that is what they might be.

Included in our ticket to the Brussels museum was the Gardenrobe. The museum showcasing some of the Manneken Pis’s costumes. Every one is honestly ridiculous. Just…  why? They had a part where you could try to dress him up, it was so confusing. His clothing is like a puzzle. I really enjoyed adding as many layers as possible, honestly the highlight of the Manneken Pis.

The entire country seems to close at about 5 or 6 in the evening except restaurants and bars, so we went back to our hostel to regroup and then got dinner.

After dinner we went to the world-famous Delirium which has over 2000 beer flavors. Personally, I chose none. I’m not a beer fan; I’ll try a sip but not a whole half pint.

We had a big group and played some drinking games and just talked as well. Even without drinking, going out can be a nice time.

Day 2

Day two started with a trip to Ghent, but that’s a post for another day. At night though, I went to see the symbol of Brussels: the Atomium.

You can go inside, there is a museum and an observation deck. But I just wanted to see it. So, me and a friend (most assistants passed saying it was too cold (it was not)) got a picnic and ate it under the lit up Atomium.

 

The Atomium was my favorite thing in Brussels. It’s criminally underrated by bloggers and travel guides and the world as a whole. I think I know why. It is not photogenic.

Sure, it looks okay in photos, but not nearly as huge and majestic as it is in real life. At night it lights up and looks honestly stunning.

For whatever reason, my friend could not remember its name. So, we gave it many: the Atominum, the Atomiumiumium, the Adamantium, the Unobtainium. If you can think of an “-ium” we called it that.

We laid underneath it and stared up at the balls talking and joking and having a great time. Hands down my favorite night in Belgium.

Day 3

We left Brussels on day three, but not before a quick stop at the EU parliament. It was great because not only is it free to visit, they also have bag storage, so we were able to leave straight after without needing to go back to our hostel.

Due to timing issues we couldn’t go into the Hemicycle, where the parliament meets, but we got to see the Parlimentarium museum.

It lined out the history of the EU and how/why it was formed. In order to make the museum inclusive for all EU members, at the door you were given an electronic guide in your language. Around the museum, you could tap signs with the device and it would tell you about the exhibit. It was very cool.

And that’s Brussels. Unpopular opinion time: Brussels was my favorite Belgian city. The internet will tell you Brussels is a wash, boring. I 100% disagree. I could have easily spent longer there. I think it is a beautiful city and well worth a visit. As my tour guide said, it’s more than a speedbump between Paris and Amsterdam.

Over the next few days you’ll be getting more posts on my Toussaint adventure. Next up: Ghent. Until then, à plus!