July 24, 2016- Anne Frank Museum, Begijnhof, and Amsterdam Museum

We woke up at 5:00 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep, so we decided to get up early and head to the Anne Frank Museum.

We picked up croissants and pastries on way to the Anne Frank Museum. It was quiet and peaceful on the streets before 9:00 a.m. on a Sunday.

At the Anne Frank House, we discovered that one had to have a reservation in order to enter the museum before 3:30 p.m. at which point they begin to sell tickets to those lined up. All the tickets had been sold out, however the museum official told us that new batches of tickets are released every hour for reservations. Taking his advice, we logged onto the Museum's free WI-Fi and internet site and proceeded to refresh our screens for 10  minutes until new tickets became available at 9:00 a.m.. We managed to score reservations for 12:15 p.m. that day. We bought the tickets online using our Museumkaart and a 0.50 EU reservation fee.

We decided to take a casual stroll through the streets.

Back of the flower market.

We stopped at a little cafe and had a tea/coffee/hard boiled eggs/ and a piece of toast.

Delicious toast

The area was beautiful.

I'm trying to take a selfie here.

Someone's behind me in the mirror waving. #photobomb

Then we walked over to see the Begijnhof (old nunnery and a this little courtyard also contains the oldest house in the area, #34 from the 1500's. The area was beautiful and the sound of church music wafted out of the windows over the few tourists. This is free of charge to see.

Oldest house, done in the 1500's

We wanted a bathroom, so we went into the Amsterdam Museum and used it there and then wandered around looking at the beautiful collection of art, artifacts, and interesting facts about the growth of Amsterdam over the years. This Museumkaart is very useful to have and is paying itself back every day.

This chap is all ready for Euro Pride 2016

Forget the bottle of wine next time you give your host a gift. Something crafty like this is more thoughtful (hold the ivory though).

Hipsters should think of this outfit as a new trend for fall 2016.

We picked up organic salads and turmeric, carrot, and ginger juice at a little hole in the wall called Roots for lunch. We ate this on a bench by the canal. We listened to a tour guide correcting the tourists in how to pronounce Gouda cheese (whoota- it sounded like). We finished our lunch and hurried over to the Anne Frank House.

We made it in perfect time, showed our reservation to get in the reservation line (on our phone) and our Museumkaart. We then joined the line of people slowly inching through the house, up and then down (no photos allowed in the whole museum). The museum was very moving. This time April was struck most by the marks on the wall showing the growth by year of Anne and her sister, something you would see in any house. Bill thought that Otto's (the father) comments about reading Anne's diary after her death and saying that you never really know your children was very thought provoking.

We left feeling very subdued and walked home in the hot, humid afternoon.

Every house should have a stuffed zebra rooster.

On our way home, we stopped at a cafe and sat outside and had some fries. We also found an ice cream later, although, being hot, and the stuff actually being real ice cream, our hands got just as much as our mouths did (in North America the cone still would not have melted).

At the cafe, watching Amsterdam go by.

We went to the shopping district near to the Museum Quarter on our way home. It was Sunday, so it wasn't that busy and some stores were closed. We inquired about whether traffic from Asia was increasing or decreasing over the past couple of months. We had noticed not as many Chinese tourists in Amsterdam as we did in Paris last year (is Amsterdam not as popular or is there a slow down?). The shop keepers said that they had perhaps noticed a slight increase, but that the tourists didn't come steadily and more in waves. They also said that there were personal shoppers that came on behalf of Asians and shopped there.

We stopped at organic grocery to pick up some fruit, yogurt, and cheese.

We arrived back at the hotel. We had a nap and then ordered room service. We both had a chicken Caesar salad for dinner and some fizzy water. The salad had the most amazing lettuce and chicken. One of the best Caesar salads ever for both of us.