Anne Frank and Van Gogh

In Amsterdam, we learned about two special people. Just a reminder, this is a joined post about the two people, who are two of the most famous people who lived in Amsterdam. 

We went to the Anne Frank house. I really enjoyed the visit but it also made me uncomfortable. I sort of wanted to leave because I thought it might make me have nightmares or something, because it was very shocking that the Nazis could just do that. It was very shocking that they chose to do that, when there were so many other things they could do.

It was very interesting how Anne and her family survived in the attic. The house was actually very big. We were using an audio guide. Sometimes there were even little movies. There was a little square thing where you put your audio guide up to it, then you could listen to it. Sometimes it was hard to make it beep (like when I used the wrong end). 

There were lots of different rooms. The attic was the coolest bit. There was a moving bookshelf that had to be locked and when you unlocked it, you could go inside. It was very interesting why they made it so steep. I had to even use my hands on the stairs, I didn't need to use a handrail. The stairs were steep because the houses there were really narrow. 

When you go around the stairs, there's a little room with photos on the wall that Anne had put up. We saw the bathroom which they couldn't flush (and you had to wait to watch your hands) until late in the night when no one would hear. 

Also there was another room where you could go up more stairs. There was a kitchen bench that was original from Anne Frank's time so you couldn't touch it. There was also a little stove and oven. They didn't have much food so they couldn't eat much.

After that, we went down the stairs and saw the diary room where they showed her different diaries and notebooks. She was going to turn her diary into a story, but one day the Nazis found them. A man came up with a pistol and that's when they knew their life was over. 

Once our audioguide ended, we got to go to the store where I got a diary. Now I'm drawing pictures and writing in it.

The next day, we went to the Van Gogh Museum. It was very interesting because I didn't know much about Van Gogh. He was suffering from a mental sickness which made him very sad and do a few strange things. To give an analogy, I made up a country called Oola but I know it's not real. Van Gogh may have thought it was real and may be worried about real enemies (that were just made up). He even cut off his ear with a razor. That would really hurt!

I really enjoyed looking at his paintings. The very unique thing from Van Gogh was that he showed his brush strokes and made a lot of texture by using a lot of paint. Most artists would try to blend it in to make it realistic, but Van Gogh tried to make it a bit more creative. 

There was a little treasure hunt book that was actually really hard. The guy at the desk said we were one of the first people to find one of the answers was horses (not donkey). We thought the prize would be a little sticker but it was actually two stickers, a tattoo, a postcard (you could choose from 20 different types), and a big poster you could colour in.

I really enjoyed the Van Gogh Museum. I recommend doing the treasure hunt if you go there. 

Sweet snack at Zaanse Schans

I also recommend trying some stroopwafels. Bye!