Day 2: Amsterdam

We were at Anne Frank's house at 8:30 am. I had read her book before our trip and it was exciting to see how everything played out. Such a depressing tragedy for Anne, her family and all of her fellow Jews.

Next was a canal cruise through the "City of Canals".  They say it is an odd experience if you are ever in the Netherlands and it is not raining...it was raining.  Next we visited the Rijksmuseum with priceless paintings by  Rembrandt  and other Dutch masters.  A diamond center demo followed where they showed us lots of the biggest and best of their jewels.  The tour bus next took us to the Hague, seat of the Dutch government and the International Court of justice.The court has, in the past, tried many dictators and other criminals for genocide.  It is interesting that they no longer try these major criminals in the Hague because they are so afraid their supporters will try to break them out of jail.

Next on the agenda was a stop at the world renowned Royal Delft Pottery Factory where we saw demos of hand painted pottery.  In the evening we joined our tour director for a Dutch dinner of Hotchpotch (a little bit of everything) and pea soup. We walked off the heavy meal

Ann at Delft Factory

Lots of canals

Celebrating the King's Birthday

Statue to Ann Frank

with a walking tour of Old Amsterdam.We took a side trip through the "red light" district. Prostitution is not legal in the  Netherlands but they tolerate it...so it exists.