Wednesday July 24

Koninklijk Palace, Anne Frank House, Canal Cruise


This morning we got up and had the hotel breakfast.  It was really good!  We're working through trying Dutch foods, and stroop is available so I think I'll get some on toast tomorrow.

We walked back to the metro station, bought 2 day passes, and headed down to Centraal Station.  We wandered around taking some pictures of the very iconic architecture around the area, then headed in to visit the Royal Palace.  We poked into the Nieuwe Kerk church next door, but they wanted a healthy fee to go in so we took a pass.  I remember not wanting to pay Westminster Abbey's fee a number of years back, on principal.

Houses Close to Centraal

The Palace

De Nieuwe Kerk on Right-Magna Mall Straight On

Prinsengracht Canal


After this we wandered through a spectacular looking mall (Magna Plaza), then headed over to where Anne Frank House is.  We had a few drinks at a nearby café and sampled a vegetarian version of Bitterballen.  Then we took the very emotional journey through Anne Frank House.  Pictures inside are appropriately not allowed, so only the outside plaque posted here!

Door to Building Anne Frank's Family Hid In


We came out to get on a canal cruise.  We had a great hour cruising around, and meeting folk from Nashville, the U.K. and Paraguay.  The fellow steering our boat noted that today broke an all-time temperature record for the Netherlands.  Some on the boat raised a cheer for this, but we didn't feel it was cheer-worthy.  After our cruise, we took the metro and walked home.  Today we walked 12.15 km.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/24/summers-second-heatwave-set-to-break-records-across-europe





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