DAY 2 OF DEBACHERY-AMSTERDAM

I would love to tell you that we continued to check out some more crazy things in Amsterdam, but really we did some historical type things and it was much more somber than day 1.

Have you ever heard of some girl named Anne Frank? There's supposedly a diary that's pretty famous. I am pretty sure they made me read it in about 8th grade. LOL So here's the thing, before we left Belgium, I Googled Amsterdam...just in case we got bored with hash brownies and sex shows. Amsterdam is where Anne Frank hid for two years in the attic of her father's business where he produced jam. THIS is MY actual Michelangelo statue. I don't care how long the line is, we are standing in it. History was made here and I am going to see it.

 Here we are in line for the House of Anne Frank.

Still Waiting.

While we waited, this guy showed up in a crappy painted boat blowing on a trumpet. We thought he was another crazy floating down the river looking for people to throw him money, but all of a sudden we realized that he was coordinating with the bell tower guy.

Crazy old man playing his trumpet on the water looking for  hand out... OR IS HE?

This is a candid shot of Tim Freaking out cuz they are playing in sync. (ABOVE) Tim, when he realized there was a little show going on! "Hey wait! He's playing a line, then the bell tower is ringing the same line/tune!"

The Bell Tower that was playing along.

ANNE FRANK HOUSE

The entrance to the Anne Frank House

 Anne Frank house. You can almost imagine the Germans invading and ordering everyone out. We all saw Schindler's List right?

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any pics inside the house.  It was a very somber place. Everyone going thru was extremely quiet. We got to walk thru the main floors where Otto Frank owned a shop but had to re-establish it under someone else's name once the Germans invaded Amsterdam in 1940. Then we went up the (extremely steep) stairs where Anne Frank, her sister Margot, her parents and another family of four lived for 2 years in secrecy.  They were betrayed and caught in 1942 when they were sent  to the concentration camps. The Nazis ordered the furnishing removed from the hiding place. Otto Frank, Anne's father, ordered the secret annex to remain unfurnished. 

The windows are still blacked out, the rooms remain empty. There were pictures on the walls showing what the rooms looked like. They were taken in 1992 to reconstruct how the rooms looked while the Franks lived there. There were also scale models built based on Otto Frank's specifications. 

I don't know how to convey how sad this was. To know that a girl...my daughter's age right now, spent 2 years of year life locked up in hiding, was found anyway and later died. That this was the what happened to millions of people, yet this one girl was the voice for those people. It breaks the heart. During one of the documentaries, we saw her father, Otto, explain how he went back to the house hoping that some of his family had survived (none did), he was given her diary, which she always knew she wanted published. To have to read you daughter's diary, after trying to protect her..... AHHHH. I am choked up now just typing this. Anne died in a Nazi concentration camp just one month before they were liberated. One month.

OK, on to more cheery events...

Next we visited the Museum of Torture. I honestly thought this was going to be sort of like the Amsterdam Dungeon. It wasn't.  This was a museum to show different types of torture devices used way back when.

The Beginning

 See how excited we are to go in? Like Disneyland only...NOT

I am so bad ass.

A piece of wood worn around the neck

I guess you aren't allowed to move your had very far with this one. 

The Rack (Nice Rack)

A pic of someone ON the rack. Looks like fun, eh?

The executioner?

The torture here? Think about it. Major muscles cramps from being held in one position

This blade was used to saw a man in half, literally. Luckily, you wouldn't live very long with this one. The put you upside down and then sawed you in half starting between your legs. Gross.

That's enough of that.

Next we headed to the Ice Bar. Did anyone watch The Amazing Race, mmm, maybe 2 seasons ago where they had to go to the Ice Bar and sit on a block of ice for about 10 minutes? Well, I guess it's famous now. So we went.  Unfortunately, we could only walk into the first part of it. If you wanted to go IN the actual Ice Bar, you had to pay some outlandish fee and buy drinks. Since I wasn't in the mood for alcohol, we passed. But hey, we were there!

Me and the penguin at the Ice Bar.

 Isn't he cute?

This was a 3D thing I was trying to capture and failed. LOL

After we did all of this, we were tired. It was around 6pm and jet lag had set in. We walked back up to the Red District in search of another sex show (LOL) and since we didn't find any, we went back to our hotel. Tim walked next door and got Gyros for dinner and I took a bath. I hurt SO bad everywhere...I don't even know how to explain. However, after food, a percocet, a hot bath and rubbing Icy Hot massage cream all over myself and smoking a (LEGAL) joint , I was in happy land and I slept like a baby! God, I LOVED Amsterdam! Please make everywhere on earth like this little city!

Next we are on to London. Since this has already happened and it was a big old cluster-fuck, I will save it for tomorrow. It's 2am here and we have an early flight out of this shit hole.