Happy Mercedes to You: Amsterdam to Bruges

We have breakfast on our "cruise ship" in a light-filled room with large windows and a great view of the water. They've posted a sign asking that patrons not take food from the breakfast room to use as their lunch. (we've done this in other places we've stayed and evidently we're not the only ones).

Right afterwards we are on the ferry to Amsterdam. We have timed-tickets for the Anne Frank House. We decide to walk and it takes a bit longer than anticipated but nevertheless we arrive early. Early is fine with the ticket takers so we get a head start on our day.

The building we enter is Otto Frank’s place of business. The Frank family and 4 others hid in the upper floors. They could not go outside and they had to remain silent during the day while workers were in the building downstairs.

In Anne’s room that she shared with Fritz Pfeffer the walls are covered with picture postcards and posters of her movie idols. Her father had the foresight to have her bring them from home. It helped her adjust to the isolation.

The rooms are tiny and the space does double duty for living and sleeping and eating. It’s hard to imagine 8 people patiently and silently spending their days here.

We walk through the revolving cupboard that hides access to the secret annex. We see the wall map where Otto Frank kept track of the Allied advance. Pencil marks on the wall show the girls’ growth.

The museum has created a room simply to preserve and display Anne’s diary. It’s a small red-checkered book. When it was filled she wrote in notebooks. Alternate sheets from her diaries are displayed on a rotating basis.

She wanted to become a writer and wrote more than just her diary. Also displayed are her Beautiful Sentences book where she copied quotes that she liked and her book of short stories.

There is another room where a video plays on a loop featuring people who knew Anne and her family.

Their hiding place is exposed in 1944 after the group had been sequestered for two years . Anne dies two years later in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. It remains unclear how they were discovered. Only Anne’s father, Otto Frank survives and he is instrumental in the preservation of the building.

We stroll back to the ferry landing crossing canals and enjoying the Amsterdam ambiance.

Once back to the car it’s wheels up to Bruges.

We enter the historic city center through a rounded brick double turret shaped gate. We find the lovely old Peellaert Hotel with off-site but protected parking. The hotel is within walking distance of everything. So we drop our bags and start to explore. We get as far as the plaza fronting City Hall and enjoy lunch at a restaurant on the square.

Next door the huge Market Square is the center of the action with ornate buildings on all sides. The imposing sky-high medieval Bruges Belfry, takes up one quadrant, (one more belfry we won’t climb). Shops and restaurants abound. Horse drawn carriages await passengers on the cobbled courtyard. We find a tea shop and another selling waffles on a stick. We make purchases at each to tuck in our suitcases.

More canals here, much less traveled and more serene. We enjoy another cruise. Bruges is quaint and captivating, earning its nickname “the Venice of the North”. We have a view from the water of the Church of Our Lady, whose brick spire is the world's second highest brick tower/building.