Amsterdam Day 3
Today I immersed myself in the experience and history of the Jews in Amsterdam. I had advance reservations for the Anne Frank house for 11:15 this morning. I walked there from my apartment, which only took 15 minutes. Was I ever glad I had taken the advice of my guidebook and bought my ticket online, before I left home with a specific visit time! The lines for general admission to the Anne Frank house are unbelievable this time of year. They snake around an entire city block and people expect to be on the line for at least an hour if not more. I was able to simply walk up and go on in at the appointed time!
The tour is very well done and takes you through both the offices of Otto Frank's business, where his colleagues continued to run his business while helping to hide the Frank family and the others who hid with them, and then takes you up into the secret annex at the back of the building where Anne Frank and 7 others lived for two years. It was just as Anne describes in her diary. Amazing that 8 people managed to live in those cramped quarters for two years and remain relatively sane while doing so. The exhibit contains actual pages of Anne's original diaries and other writings she did while in hiding. Very moving overall.
Then I decided to go visit the Jewish historical museum, which was not in the same part of town as the Anne Frank house. I took the tram over to the Southeast section where the Jewish museum, which is actually a series of old synagogues joined together, is located. I started out in the Great Synagogue, which is not a functioning synagogue anymore, but is a terrific museum. It has beautiful artifacts of Jewish religious and family life on the first floor and up in the gallery, a wonderful exhibit tracing the history of the Jews in Amsterdam. The Jews came to Amsterdam in the late 15th century, after being expelled from Spain and Portugal. Another wave arrived in the 17th century from Eastern Europe. Overall, Jewish history in Amsterdam was positive, as the Dutch were pretty tolerant and Jews were able to maintain their communal life while also participating in the life and economy of the country. They had an exhibit in the New Synagogue of photographs done by a Russian Jewish photographer during the early half of the 20th century all over Europe where he documented the rise of Nazism and anti-Semitism. After visiting those two museums I crossed the street to the Portuguese Synagogue which was by far my favorite site today. What an amazing building! Absolutely HUGE and what I love is that it is still a functioning synagogue. It was built in the 1670s. The Ark, the bima and the pews are all dark Brazilian wood and there are enormous candelabras hanging all over the building which provide the only light inside. The windows are huge and clear and let in a good deal of light during the day, but for evening worship, all they have for lights are the candles! It takes the sexton two hours to light them before the synagogue is used for a service! I went up to the women's gallery where you get a great view looking down on the synagogue below. You can also visit the mikva (ritual bath for women), the rabbinate, where the rabbi meets with people seeking his counsel, the mourning room, where bodies are prepared for burial, the "candle room" (which Christians would call the sacristy,) containing candles, prayer books, shofars, linens for wrapping the bodies of the dead and other ceremonial objects. Then I visited the "treasury" where they store the silver decorative tops for the Torah scrolls and the many, many Torah scroll coverings that they have, all of which are made of gorgeous,ornate fabrics. Extra Torah scrolls are stored there too, as well as the fabrics that are used to cover the bima for worship services. They also have a library containing rare books and manuscripts. Apparently, most of those books and manuscripts were looted by the Germans during World War II and taken to Germany. It is nothing short of miraculous that they were not destroyed, but were actually pretty much intact and returned to the synagogue here after the war. Its also amazing that Amsterdam's city officials were able to convince the Nazis not to destroy the Portuguese synagogue, arguing that it was a valuable historical treasure of the city and should be preserved as a national treasure. It is a blessing that it was not destroyed because it is such a beautiful sacred space and so steeped in history.
After I left the Portuguese synagogue it was too late to do any more museums so I got the tram back to Dam Square and then did a walk from there to the Jordaan neighborhood, which is a quieter, more upscale, quaint, area with lovely old homes, cafes, interesting small shops,beautiful canals full of houseboats and cafes with tables right along the canal. I wandered through that area for a while (which is very close to where my apartment is located) and had supper at a cafe right near the canal. I had a traditional Dutch hotpot meal, mashed potatoes with onions and carrots and gravy, and a kielbasa. Hearty fare, this evening! And, of course, a Dutch beer to wash it down!
After supper I walked back home, slowly, and got here much earlier than I have the past two nights! I was going to go back out again, but once here, decided to relax and not move anymore for the day! Tomorrow, I'm on my own in the morning but will spend the afternoon with a woman who lives here in Amsterdam who is going to show me around and get me away from the central tourist areas to see something of what its like here outside the city center. She is someone I contacted through an organization I belong to that connects women with other women worldwide. So I'm looking forward to experiencing Amsterdam tomorrow with a native!
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