Amsterdam, Netherlands & Berlin, Germany

10. Personal Excursion

After departing the beautiful Venice, Italy we arrived in Amsterdam, Netherlands Sunday night. We woke up Monday morning, ate our free breakfast, and headed off to the free walking tour. The lack of sleep over the past week was finally catching up to me, and it became very evident when I was introduced to our very enthusiastic tour guide bright and early. However I finally started to wake up and the tour taught me a lot about the city. We were taken to many of the main attractions. One thing that stood out to me the most is that nearly all of the tall, thin buildings in the city lean. We learned that if they lean in toward the street it is considered a “good lean” and is simply just the result of the city being built on a swamp. However, some of the buildings lean to the side, which is a bad lean, and that is just an architectural problem.

Amsterdam Houses

Amsterdam Canals

Amsterdam was similar to Venice in the sense that there are canals throughout the city, but it looks nothing like Venice. It is beautiful in its own unique way. Another thing unique specifically to Amsterdam is the amount of bikers. Biking seems to be the main way of transportation. I learned very quickly that walking in the bike lane is most likely more dangerous than walking out in the street in front of the cars.

We also took a trip to Keukenhof Gardens to see the famous tulip fields of Amsterdam during our stay. It was such an incredible sight to see.

Tulip Fields

Tulip Fields

Our last stop in Amsterdam was the Anne Frank house. It was such an eye opening experience to see the place where Anne Frank and her family hid during the holocaust. Seeing the holocaust memorials in person really changes one’s perspective. It is unreal how much of a difference it can make being able to see it in person as opposed to learning it just out of a text book. It was a very emotional day.

We left Amsterdam and arrived in Berlin, Germany that night. We checked into our hostel and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

The original bookcase that hid the passageway to the attic where they hid

One of the bedrooms in the Anne Frank House

We woke up the next morning and went on the free walking tour. We had an amazing tour guide, who told us stories about the Berlin wall that almost brought me to tears. It was so fascinating to learn about the Berlin wall and the Cold War considering how recently all of that took place. On our tour we saw the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the area where Hitler died, and the Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe.

The Berlin Wall

Checkpoint Charlie

The Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe

The Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe was so fascinating to me. We stopped there on the tour and learned a little bit about how it was a memorial designed to resemble a cemetery, however it is meant to be open to each individual’s interpretation. Our tour guide recommended we come back by ourselves in order to get our own understanding of the memorial.

We went on another tour of the city where we learned about Berlin, after WWII. On the tour we stopped in the death strip, which is the area that separates East Berlin from the Berlin wall. This area was guarded 100% of the time so no one could escape from the Communist East Berlin. The memorial in this area left me speechless. The stories of the people that died trying to escape clearly shows the desperation these people had to get out of there. It was unreal to be able to see all of this in person.

Standing in the Death Strip of the Berlin Wall

Memorial to those who lost their lives trying to escape East Berlin

Amsterdam and Berlin were 2 more great adventures to add to the list and I know I have many more to come

Bye for now!