July 28 - Religion, Rembrandt, and Resistance

(John) We rose to the incessant clamoring of power tools. A home across the canal was undergoing renovation starting at 7am. Major European cities strike me as tremendously noisy. The rumble of trams, buzz of motorbikes, and in Amsterdam, the ding ding of bicycle bells fill the atmosphere with sound. I'm glad I have earplugs.

It rained again this morning, but soon the skies cleared and it warmed up. My mood picked up too. Apparently, northern Europe has about the same amount of summer sun as Seattle. It's just more humid here.

Gene and I both read the Diary of Anne Frank during this trip. Today, we actually saw her family's hiding place. Lines for this memorial site can be very long. We got there 20 minutes after the opening and more than 100 people were already in line (most we from a gigantic tour group of teenage girls.)

We learned that thousands of Jews in Holland went into hiding. And mass strikes were called by the Dutch to protest discrimination against and deportation of Jews. Of course, the Nazis and local Fascist party responded ruthlessly.

Very little about the the Frank's house and business offices has changed. All the furniture is gone, but the tour through the Secret Annex is still impressive and very familiar. Anne's original movie star pictures still decorate her bedroom walls. Speaking of originals, two of the original diaries are on display, opened to a date close to the current month and day.

Most touching of all is a video of Otto Frank at the very end of the exhibit. He recalls the time when he returned to Amsterdam and learned that both his daughters had died from typhus one month before their camp was liberated. Is was at that moment Miep, his assistant pulled a stack of Anne's diaries from her desk and said, "This is your daughter's legacy." At that moment, I felt a lump in my throat.

We took a tram to the Rijksmuseum next. Almost the entire facility is undergoing a renovation, but an exhibit of museum highlights is on display in one wing. Lots of Rembrandt, Vermeer, Borch, and Delftware. I have become a huge fan of Rembrandt during this trip.

After a café lunch and another tram ride, we wandered through what turned out to be one of my favorite museums of the entire trip - Museum of the Dutch Resistance. It was a fascinating and highly interactive series of displays, arranged chronologically, from 1930 to 1948. They used technology to augment documents and historical objects. We spent more time here than at the Rijksmuseum. Also, it wasn't nearly as crowded. We didn't object to the air conditioning either, since it had grown quit warm outside.

Now we are back in the hotel relaxing and packing for our departure at 6am tomorrow. A simple and early dinner is planned before final preparations and bedtime.

It's been a good day, a wonderful trip, and I'm looking forward to all the comforts and familiarity of home.