When East Meet West . Vol 1: Amsterdam Day 3

After our rather bad experiences the day before, on the third day, we decided to stand on our own feet. Yes! Be our own GPS. Hehe.

Now I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

Our first destination after breakfast was Blomenmarkt (flower market) at De Kroon. Amsterdam is well known for growing the most beautiful tulips in the world. It was such a shame we weren't there during spring, else we would have had the chance to visit Keukenhof, known as the Garden of Europe, which is the world's largest flower garden.

Flower market, selling bulbs, gardening tools and souveniers

Can be seen behind me, the flower market is located on top of the water, along the canal

Ah Bui met a friend!

Then we took the tram down Damrak. It got merrier along the street as we neared the city center.

Mint Tower of Amsterdam. The upper part was built some 400 years later by a different empire

Magna Plaza, a luxury shopping mall just on the right of the newly refurbished Royal Palace

Inside Magna Plaza

Dam Square, the central part of Amsterdam

Koninklijk Paleis (Royal Palace)

Nieuwe Kerk (New Church)

National Monument, erected in 1956 to memorialize the victims of World War II

Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum

Next up was the Sex Museum. Everyone is welcome I didn't saw any sign stating any limitation of entrance.

Mimicry of the Red Light District. If you have no idea what it is, I'll explain later on in this entry.

Lingerie worn by the sex workers during the olden days

I did not include a lot of the photographs taken there as they present nudity and other possibly disturbing images. However, the museum itself has had quite a lot of exhibition regarding different postures (erhem, if you knwo what I mean), some interactive models of well-known sex icon such as Marilyn Monroe and Mata Hari themselves.

A local bakery. Love the aroma

We had lunch at a local pub/bar/restaurant, whatever it was. I like the ambience there.

Showing off our new T-shirt while waiting for the food

We asked for recommendation on the local food and here's what we got.

Bitterballs. This is actually mushroom and cream coated with breadcrumbs then deep-fried to perfection. Yummy! I omitted the mustard as they were nice on their own.

Cod fillet with hollandaise sauce

After lunch, our next destination was De Wallen, the Red Light District which is located along the canal with rented window brothels, where the prostitutes would 'display' themselves by the window. There are also a number of sex shops, sex theaters and coffee shops that sell marijuana.

Nothing much different to the other streets as the red lights of the brothels were yet to be lighted

Casa Rosso, one of the sex theater

Oude Kerk (Old Church)

Bronze statue Belle. The inscription reads 'Respect sex workers all over the world'

Presumably Chinatown with Chinese shops and a temple

Since it was still early and The Duck had already booked tickets to the Anne Frank's House at 6.45pm, we took our own sweet time to enjoy the scenery while making our way there.

Amsterdam is famous for its pancake. Therefore, I had searched beforehand as to which restaurant serves the best pancake. The result came to Sara's Pancake House. On the way, The Duck suddenly stopped and pointed to a Sara's. We hovered over but was curious as there were no patrons. After some hesitation, we still ventured in.

The Duck's waffle with caramel and clotted cream. Delicious!

The shop we went

After that, she kept doubting that we went to the wrong Sara's. She even claimed to pull her face and walk along the street for 5 mins if we were to find another Sara's later on. Alas! After a 5 mins walk, a sign hung before me. That's the genuine Sara's Pancake House!

The famous Sara's Pancake House

Having comforted ourselves that the one we had was tasty nevertheless, we proceed on our journey. By the time we reached there, the weather was really bad. It was raining and certainly very cold for me. My shoes were leaking, resulted in my leggings soaked up with icy water. To our dismay, we were 3 hours ahead our turn leaving us no other resolve but to keep walking around.

Westerkerk (Western Church), located near Anne Frank's House

Finding shelter in an opposite cafe. The Duck's coffee-shake and mine, raspberry.

Anne Frank's House with super long queue despite the cold weather

Standing strong despite the chilly wind that froze our faces

The highlighted house is the one they actually lived in

We were briefed on the short life of Anne Frank and her family as well as the happening during the Holocaust. We then visited the secret Annex that was used as a hiding place for the family from 1942-1944 before they were betrayed and caught. I left the place with a heavy heart by such inhumane action performed by the Nazis on the Jews and earnestly hoped that history will not repeat itself.

Bui Kia sleeping soundly after the long exhausting day