Amsterdam Day 8

Today is our last day in Amsterdam; we are boarding our ship this afternoon. We enjoyed our stay at the Movenpick because of its proximity to the city centre of Amsterdam. Will dream about the chocolate and Dutch french fries until we can plan another trip over - thoroughly enjoyed this vibrant city.
The cruise line we are using is Avalon Waterways and our boat is called the Expression.  We will leave Amsterdam tonight and stop in Cologne, Germany tomorrow afternoon.  Tomorrow morning will be a much needed rest from running around.

We decided to take one last walk around Amsterdam to see anything that we missed.  We came upon a small cafe, Winkels.  It  is always packed, but today it had a short line, so we went in to see what the big fuss was about.  Carolyn walked up to the counter and said,  "I'll have one of what everybody is coming here for." I took a trip to the bathroom dungeon. Bathrooms in Amsterdam tend to be small, challenging to get to, and you have to pay to use them. I found Carolyn outside eating what she describes as, "Probably the best piece of apple pie I have ever eaten. Based on the half she shared with me, I agree. Will find a recipe for Dutch Apple Pie when I get home!!! Wow, it was crazy delicious.

We visited the Anne Frank house.  Anne and her family, Germans of Jewish decent, hid there during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II.  She kept a diary, which was discovered after the war.  Another sad reminder of the atrocities carried out by the Nazi Germans.  Westerkerk, in the photo below, is said to be the church Anne wrote about. She said she could hear the bells toll each day while in hiding.  As we came upon the church, we heard those same bells; it was both beautiful and haunting.

Anne Frank House

Westerkerk

Below are some miscellaneous pictures of Amsterdam that we loved.