I don't know how many people will visit Amsterdam, the capital city and also the largest city of the Netherlands, not as their first stop in NL. But for me, it is the case. Our day goes like this:
9:30 arrived at Amsterdam Central station, walked along the canal to Dam Square
Danni, Jie and Guus in May 2005
Yu in Aug 2005
Dam Square is a very small square to my opinion. I was surprised to find that it was used like Tian An Men Square by the Royal family.
Danni, Jie and Guus in May 2005 Yu in Aug 2005 
Me in Oct 2005I wonder if the Dam Square could ever imagine to receive all of us in only 4 months time? This really shows the mobility of PRC people now adays. I definitely believe the world will open up itself for our generation.
10:15 Anne Frank's House
One of the most touching museum I have ever visited. It was built from the original house where the Frank family hid during WWII, financed by Anne's Father, the only survivor of the war. http://www.annefrank.org
I came to know Anne Frank because her diary was one of the compulsory reading books in my secondary school. I have also watched a movie adapted from her story and it was just shot in this museum. However, my feeling towards Jews has never been so real before I visited the museum.
The whole exhibition combines the power of the actual place and high tech multimedia to recreate the atmosphere of the war time. I was at the verge of tears many times and on the guest book I wrote: "This is more than the story of An ne Frank herself, but to millions of Jews suffered in the war."
The diary has been translated to more than 60 languages, and the different editions are displayed in a glass cabinet. Unfortunately I don't see a Chinese version. When I check with the museum shop, they said Chinese version was sold out. Don't know if it is because they have too few copies or too many Chinese tourists have bought it?
When we come out of the house, we find such a long queue lasting for about 100m from the entrance. This really shows how popular AnneFrankMuseum is. And the museum has also tried its best to accommodate people all over the world. Just the brochure is printed in 9 languages(Dutch, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, But not Chinese), so as most videos which are translated.
One inspiration from Anne is that if it was not because of her writing, her story will just be untold like many other Jews died in WWII. So writing is very powerful at times. I am so encouraged to write more of my stories.
12:00 Lunch by the Canal
When we come out of Anne Frank's house, we both feel very hungry. The sun has come out to make the air very warm. So we decide to have lunch outside.
There were many street cafes that serve delicious food with fresh autumn air, but also cost more $$. At one street corner, we find a piece of empty space besides a cafe with equally beautiful sunshine for FREE. So enjoy a picnic lunch there! The only not so nice thing is to be seen by the tourists on the boat in the canal.
boathouse - typical of NL see the bike haning dangerously on the bridge
2:00 Arrived at the wind mill village
The windmill village is about 15 minutes train away from Amsterdam. But it is quite well known among Chinese tourist because it is one stop for the standard European tour. And we just met a group when we were there. It is no wonder the tour agencies choose this attraction because it has almost everything that representing The Netherlands – the windmills, the wooden shoes and the cheese (pity there is no tulip field near by).
There are several windmills restored for tourist to visit. Since most tour group go to the nearest one, we decide to go to the furthest one. To my surprise, all the windmills are still working. The one we go to is making oil. First thing I notice inside the house is a strange smell. The owner jokes with me that it contains the smell of MOUSE PEE. The other windmills are used to make coloring (which yu went to) and cutting wood.
The second floor of the windmill is very windy. There we see a big wheel which controls the direction of the blades, so that even when direction of wind changed, the windmill will still be able to work. The blades are really huge. My estimation is about 20m high at least. The blades are made of wooden skeleton and wrapped with clothes to catch the wind.
The Wooden Shoe museum is definitely the most interesting souvenir shop. It not only sells all kinds of wooden shoes (both old and modern day design), but also demonstrate how they are made. The most difficult part to make is the inner front where the toes are. Luckily, now they have machines to carve out that part by putting the desired size shoe and the new shoe on the machine. It works just like duplicating a key. And the cheese factory is another interesting place where a demonstration is performed of how cheeses are made. We try a few different kinds of cheese there too. Very delicious!
Left:
yu and me photoed with the same XXXL size wooden shoe
Yu has taken many photos at the wooden shoe museum, but she missed this one which I believe would be her favourite.
So here is my gift for you Yu.
For more wooden shoe photos Please visit Photo Album photos with CTY:
For more wooden shoe photos Please visit Photo Album photos with CTY:
Courtesy to Yu for using some of her photos
6:00 Back to Amsterdam to have dinner with Helen and her boyfriend
Helen is my old high school classmate from Renda, she is on a holiday with her boyfriend. We have not met each other since early 2003 during a class gathering. And what amazed me the most is we meet in Amsterdam – a place I could hardly imagine. We choose a Chinese Indonesian and Suriname restaurant in ChinaTown near the red light district (strangely how these two get so close). The food is not foreign to me - taste just like Chinese food in Singapore.
7:30 Started touring red light district, China Town and visited a Coffee Shop (softdrug store)
The place got its name because red light helps to hide details on people’s face and so all the prostitutes use red neon light on their windows. Now it becomes a sign to differentiate the prostitutes and other residence in the district. Actually walking around the buildings is not too different from window shopping, except that the models are replaced by real women and your emphasis is definitely not on their clothing. Frankly speaking, the prostitutes wear quite a lot in my opinion and we don’t see many people go into the rooms – that is if they are interested in the woman, they will knock on the door to talk about the deal. That could be because most of the people on the street are people like us – pure tourists. The real biz hour is after midnight, so many of the windows are either closed with curtains or empty. But still, it is an eye-opening experience for me. To certain extend, I don’t think there is any wrong with red light district (It is the oldest biz in the world). Every country has a part like that e.g. Galang in S just that they don’t market as good as The Netherlands does.
For photos of the red light district, visit http://spaces.msn.com/members/youyiran/PersonalSpace.aspx?_c02_owner=1&_c=
Cantonese Restaurant in China Town Chinese Tample
The coffeeshop in Amsterdam is different from Café. It is the place specialized to buy soft drugs. Before I came, I thought it would be a very dangerous place with images of drug addicts from movies. But actually, it is just as normal as any other café, except the heavy smell of smoke. The soft drugs are different kinds of weeds contained in small plastic bags with price starting from 5/piece. I thought I would see people sniffing white powders into their nose. But No! They only make cigarettes using paper, the weed and saliva like poor Chinese who make self-made cigarettes. I asked if the owner dare to sell hard drugs behind the counter, Guus said No because the regulation is too strict that if you are captured, the punishment is very severe. So nobody dare to take the risk. He joked to me that if I bring one small bag of the weed to Singapore, I will be sentenced the Death Penalty. That is how different the world can be!
9:00 leave Amsterdam by train
子明 @ 10/8/2005 7:41:09 PM请Please leave your comment here