Jordaan neighborhood, Hermitage, and Anne Frank House

Our day started at Leidseplein, which was once used as a parking lot for horses and carriages. Today, it is where many bicycles of the city are parked.

We walked around the American Hotel, built in 1900, heading north.

This is how we arrived at the Jordaan neighborhood, once densely populated, where the poorer population of the rapidly growing 17th-century city lived.

Besides many quiet streets and canals, there were some busier main roads.

Many residential complexes are hidden inside blocks of houses.

They were built by rich citizens for the poorer population and still provide housing in the middle of the city.

However, we did not find all the entrances we were looking for...

We ended our walk at the Noorderkerk, which now houses a museum. 

We continued along the Prinsengracht to the Tulip Museum.

The exhibition provides information about the history of tulips and their cultivation and trade in the Netherlands. 

In the 17th century, speculation with special tulip bulbs became so out of control that they were sometimes worth as much as a house in Amsterdam. 

The tower of the Westerkerk across the street is actually a landmark of Amsterdam but was hidden behind scaffolding. Unfortunately, we also did not find an open entrance to the church.

So we continued by tram. When changing trams at Dam Square, we passed by the Nieuwe Kerk, the coronation church of the Dutch monarchs, and spontaneously decided to visit it. 

Currently, there is an exhibition about former Queen Juliana, which portrays her life and work in a very positive way.

Since it was supposed to rain in the afternoon, we took the tram to the Hermitage, the first branch of the famous museum in St. Petersburg.

In the building, there were three exhibitions: one about the history of the city, one called 'Museum of the Mind', and one about Rembrandt and his contemporaries.

Overall, we were rather disappointed by the first two exhibitions. 

We had an enjoyable audio guide guiding us through the modern Rembrandt exhibition, narrating the biblical stories and ancient myths depicted.

In the evening, after dinner at the Pancake Bakery, we headed to the Anne Frank House.

The impressive exhibition takes you through the rooms where the Frank family hid from the Gestapo.

The house is very popular, and we had booked our ticket for an evening time slot well in advance.