Once a summer, the largest free classical music concert in the Netherlands happens on a canal on the Prinsengracht. A big orchestra is set up on a floating barge in the canal where the public can gather around for a night time serenade. There were so many people that we couldn’t get close enough to see anything at all but at least we could hear it. Here are just a few pictures:
Crowds of people fill the narrow streets and bridges surrounding the orchestra barge.People come out in boats to listen too. I messed up my camera settings so many of my pictures were blurry but I thought this one looked like a painting so I included it here.Night along the canals.Amsterdam cat way up in a window watching all the people below.Almost all of the boaters had a table of wine, cheese and other snacks on board to enjoy with the music. I like the way the people on the bench are all watching this floating picnic pass by.Outdoor restaurant patio.Patio glow.Canals at night.
Anne Frank House
The slightly taller, lit up building with the all black windows is the Anne Frank house. She and her family hid in a secret annex behind the top 2 floors. Their hiding place is still there, just as it was when they were discovered by the Gestapo and eventually deported to Auschwitz. The furniture was removed by the Nazis after their arrest but the rooms, kitchen fixtures, the hinged bookcase hiding the annex entrance, the staircases, the attic, the toilet and Anne’s pictures which she pasted to her bedroom walls are still there. The house is now a museum open to the public where you can see all of this plus Anne’s original hand written diaries and notebooks as well as any personal effects that were left behind. I visited the museum early one morning to see all of this. It was one of the most moving experiences I have had. It is not possible to describe it so I won’t say any more. Read the book and visit in person and you will know.A glow of blue light above the orchestra in the distance. The tall tower belongs to Westerkerk church. This is the church Anne Frank writes about in her famous diary. She could see the clock face from the attic of their hiding place and hear the church bell ring every 15 minutes which she wrote was a source of great comfort. The church sounds gave her some small connection to the outside world during her two years in hiding.
Delft
Delft is the traditional centre of production for the famous Dutch blue on white Royal Delft Pottery. It is beautiful small town. Canals, bridges and bicycles…just like Amsterdam but on a much smaller scale. It has a slower feel to it too. Only 1 hour from Amsterdam by train, it is a nice place to spend a relaxing afternoon.
Delft City Hall. It is a massive building. See all the little bikes at the bottom for scale.A little detail on the street. Delft has it’s own system of bridges and canals similar to Amsterdam but smaller and less busy.Handsome buildings.
