Contiki - Day 20 - Amsterdam

We only got up this morning at 06:40 and I was feeling fine. I thought there would be some kind of side effect, but I was feeling good. We went up to breakfast (feels strange saying “up to breakfast” when throughout the tour its been down – the restaurant was at the top of the hotel). Alison and Brian weren’t at breakfast. So after we ate we went to their room to see if they were awake yet. While on the way to their room we bumped into Brian and told him that the bus was leaving in 5 minutes. They made it on the bus.

Today was a free day meaning we can do what we like and see what we wanted to see. So we went to Anne Frank’s house. But we realised that we should rather go to the post office first so that Priscilla can mail some stuff back to Australia. She posted approx. 6kg’s of stuff so that her bag would be lighter when she flies back home. Anne Frank’s house was something else.

Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who was born in the city of Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany, and who lived most of her life in or near Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. By nationality, she was officially considered a German until 1941, when she lost her nationality owing to the anti-Semitic policies of Nazi Germany. She gained international fame posthumously following the publication of her diary which documents her experiences hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. As persecutions of the Jewish population increased in July 1942, the family went into hiding in the hidden rooms of her father Otto Frank's office building. After two years, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps. Seven months after her arrest, Anne Frank died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, within days of the death of her sister, Margot Frank. Her father Otto, the only survivor of the family, returned to Amsterdam after the war to find that her diary had been saved, and his efforts led to its publication in 1947. It was translated from its original Dutch and first published in English in 1952 as The Diary of a Young Girl.

After Anne Frank’s house, Alison, Brian, Priscilla, Des and I went to The Pancake Corner. The Pancake Corner is a cosy place with a good choice of different pancakes, sweet and savoury, some tables outside and very friendly staff. Luke and Kim decided earlier that they were going somewhere else by train – Kim’s Family – So they were out the whole day until about 15:00. Anyway, the pancakes were great!

After the pancakes we split up. Alison and Brian went to the Heineken Factory (I would also have liked to go there) and the rest of us went shopping as I still had to buy some stuff. So Des and I found the Apple shop in Amsterdam and decided that we would each buy a 32GB iPod Touch. Costing us about €270, which was a lot cheaper than back in SA? We also walked down the shopping street because I had to find something for my brother from Amsterdam. While doing shopping, Roxane joined us. A few days ago she hurt her foot, so she lost her group as they went on without her and she couldn’t follow at that speed.

This afternoon before we got picked up, there were a few people that actually ate space cakes. We got picked up at the station at 15:00. We were then taken to the hotel to get ready for our last night with the entire group. We had dinner with Beck, Emilie, Roxy, Laura, Leanne, Luke, Kim, Des and I at a table. At dinner, Des and I started sending around our group photo’s folder so that everyone could write in it, and it made its way around so most people actually wrote in it. Some of the people who ate the space cakes actually got sick and paranoid (apparently because they had some alcohol before the time).

After dinner, we had the optional Canal Cruise. Everyone did this optional because the drinks were free. It was really a great way to end the tour as a group!! Everyone mixed and had a chat. Photos were taken with others. It was kind of sad to think this tour was over; this group of people won’t likely ever be together again. When the cruise was done, some people wanted to stay in Lisa’s plein to go to certain Coffeeshops. Most people however went back to the hotel. Those who went back to the hotel, decided to hang out in the bar in the hotel.

Bed was calling and at 00:00 almost on my way to dream world.