We got up and headed to a nearby bakery to get breakfast.
On a previous evening we had discovered the bakery only a block from our apartment, and
luckily it had a cafe two doors down. We ordered a chocolate muffin, and two pieces of pastry. The pastries looked like Baklava, but were made with some
sort of sweet pesto. Then we went next door and ordered a latte. We shared the muffin and the latte on the way to the Begijnhof.
The Begijnhof was originally built in 1346, as a sanctuary for the Begijntjes, a lay catholic sisterhood who lived like nuns, although they
took no monastic vowes. The house at #34 is the oldest in Amsterdam, dating from around 1450. Originally all structures in
Amsterdam were built of wood, but this practice was banned in 1521 after a series of fires. #34 is one of only two wooden houses remaining in
the city.
After leaving the Begijnhof we had planned to take a tram down to the Museumplein, but after waiting at the station for about 15 minutes we
decided that they must not be running because it was Ascension Day. While we stood there discussing how to get to the museums on foot, a
guy in a sportscoat came up and told us that the trams were not running. He confirmed that it was because of Ascension day, and asked if we
knew what that was. We had some idea, but said "no", and he explained that "the angels came to help Jesus fly up to heaven, because He couldn't do it Himself."
Since the trams were evidently not running we began walking south towards the Museumplein. When we had almost arrived we saw trams running again, but we decided we were almost there and we'd rather just walk the rest of the way.
We were getting kind of hungry so at the Museumplein we got a
waffle and icecream as a snack. After we finished eating, we walked around the
Vondelpark for a little bit before heading to the Van Gogh Museum, which contains the largest collection of his paintings in the world. After we
had left the museum we saw a woman outside playing the cello for tips.
We decided to stop at the nearby Van Gogh Brasserie where we got
a "Van Gogh" sandwich and "a portion of Belgian fries" for about 11 EUR. We knew the Rijksmuseum was mostly closed due to renovation, so we
decided to skip that and go to Anne Frank's House instead. We rode the tram back to our apartment so that we could drop off our backpack. Then we walked the rest of the way out
to Anne Frank's House and followed the Anne Frank tour in Rick Steve's Amsterdam Guide.
On the way back to our apartment, we stopped at the Sunhead to get the total on our bill. We wanted to make sure we'd have enough Euros to to pay
cash because we had to pay extra if we paid with a credit card. We had some left over Indonesian food
from the night before, but we were hoping to
buy a bottle of wine and some dessert somewhere to bring back to our apartment. Carlos and Roelf told us where to find a place that sold wine that was still open.
We followed their directions and found the "night store". We purchased the groceries that we wanted, and were glad to see that the store also sold brushes,
because we had forgotten to pack one.
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