Day 3

Anne Frank House, Amsterdam - The Anne Frank House is a museum where visitors are given the opportunity to personally envision what happened on this very spot. The rooms of the Secret Annex have been maintained in their authentic state thanks to conscientious preservation activities. The rooms in the Secret Annex are empty, because the furniture was carted away directly after the arrest. Salvaged documents and objects belonging to the eight people in hiding are now displayed in the Secret Annex.

The front part of the house, the place where the helpers worked and Otto Frank's former office, has been returned to the style and atmosphere of the hiding period. Thanks to this, visitors are provided with the opportunity to feel personally involved in what occurred at this location. The story is told using quotes from Anne's diary as a reference. Original objects, documents, and photographs that are on display in the exhibition serve in strengthening the personal account of the hiding period and of the deportation to the camps. Three short films place the personal story in a historical context. www.annefrank.org


The History of the Wooden Shoe - The wooden shoe, in it's shape like our days, was since the late Dark Ages worn at a lot of places in Europe. Here and there people still wear wooden shoes, the most in Holland. Especially because of the swampy ground of Holland, and also because there was a lot of good wood (willows and poplars) in Holland. The wooden shoe kept on being popular for a long time everywhere in Holland. Even when the watertight boots of rubber were designed, people kept the wooden shoe, because it was so easy to use.

Of the 3 million wooden shoes which are made yearly, a big part of them are destined for tourist seats. In lots of large souvenir shops the wooden shoe is a striking element. And at some places there is a teaching workshop were wooden shoes are made by a real, old-fashioned artisan, like there were thousands of earlier. Because decennia, even some ages, ago the wooden shoe user made his wooden shoe himself. In general in the past you could see well from which part of the country a wooden shoe came because every area had its own marks. Every wooden shoe "talked" its own dialect. The history of the wooden shoe became, because of this a part, of the Dutch cultural history.


Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam - A visit to the Van Gogh Museum is a unique experience. The museum contains the largest collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh in the world. It provides the opportunity to keep track of the artist's developments, or compare his paintings to works by other artists from the 19th century in the collection. The museum also holds an extensive offer of exhibitions on various subjects from 19th-century art history. The museum’s permanent collection includes more than 200 paintings by Van Gogh and many drawings and letters.

Red Light District, Amsterdam - Dating back to the 14th Century when sailors arrived in need of some female company, the district is full of sex shops, brothels, gay bars, cinemas, hotels and different kinds of museums. This infamous part of the city is a major tourist attraction. Each year, millions of visitors come to see this vibrant and exciting part of Amsterdam.

The Red Light District is located just south (10 minutes walking) of Centraal Station, the main train station. It consists of theaters, shops, museums, restaurants, bars, coffee shops and of course the famous windows (about 250) with sexy girls, dressed in eye-popping underwear. And window-shopping, performed by both sexes is a favorite activity in the Red Light District.

Although there is a lot of adult entertainment, it is much more then just a tourist attraction. This district of 300-year-old gabled buildings and expensive real estate houses doctors, lawyers and plenty of families. It is a tolerant community where freedom is highly valued. http://www.red-light-district-amsterdam.com

"Coffee Shops" Amsterdam - Coffeeshops, not to be confused with cafés, have been a part of Amsterdam since the 1970s, when the Dutch government made a clear distinction in the law between 'hard' and 'soft' drugs. Unlike Amsterdam's fully legal smart shops, coffeeshops have always existed in a legal grey area. Today, Amsterdam's City Council, through agreement with the coffeeshop union Bond van Cannabis Detaillisten (BCD), allows coffeeshops to operate with the provision of set, non-transferable licences – shown by the display of an official, green and white sticker in the window.