Return to Amsterdam

Return to Amsterdam

We have been to Amsterdam almost a decade ago

when my eldest daughter was very young.

^^^ Then

Amsterdam is the last stop of our European tour

after having been to Berlin and Prague.

This would be my son’s first time in the city

so we promised to take him to places

we have been  in the past-

…and also see new places

that we did not have a chance to visit previously.

We took a fancy limousine from the airport

to the Doubletree Hotel by Hilton.

It is a beautiful, brand new hotel

and just like any other Hilton Hotels,

it is fabulously designed.

It  had panoramic windows

that gave us a great view of the city,

The best thing in this hotel is the

Apple Desk Pad the serves

as a personal computer with super fast
internet connection and a TV.

The weather was fair 

on our first day in Amsterdam,

but it rained hard on the second day until we

left for home on the fifth day.

It rained day in and day out

that it only not dampen the streets of Amsterdam

but also our spirits to go around and explore the city.

To avoid getting from getting soaked

on a chilly autumn weather.

we depended of packaged canal tours…

…and bus tours as we would still be able
go around despite  the bad weather…

Nothing much has changed in Amsterdam

after almost 10 years.

It was the same old 

but beautiful and modern city-

We visited the beautiful Artis Zoo
 and the signage changed from colorful 
almost ten years ago...

^^^ Then

... to formal and conventional 
at present.

^^^ Now

We posed for photos on places

we have been to a decade ago…

^^ ^Then

The City Square did not have

any major changes after a decade.

^^^Now

We traveled as far as Delft

...to Rotterdam and the Hague

and they still look the same…

The Madurodam looked the same

but the miniatures became more interactive.

^^^Then

^^^ Now

We added destinations in our itinerary

that we have not visited in the past…

One of the main reasons why we returned to

Amsterdam was to visit the Anne Frank Museum.

The museum left us choking on our emotions

and haunted us for years…

No photos are allowed inside the museum.

We took one with me carrying my daughter

(then a toddler) at the museum entrance…

^^^Then

She  pointed out  what she thought

was  a wrongly spelled Dutch word:

” Ann Frank Huis” 

Now on her teens-

she knows and understands much better.
It was a Dutch word- not an English term.

^^^ Now

I posed with my young son this time

and he did the same thing-

...he pointed out the wrong spelling-



‘That’s  alright’, we reckoned.

Just like his sister,  he’ll know better 

on our return to Amsterdam 
in another decade or so.