Yes, it’s true you are in Amsterdam to have fun and make merry but Amsterdam has a lot more to offer than what you currently think it offers. Among them, one of its key attractions is the Anne Frank House.
If you are into history and enjoy being part of something from the past, then the Anne Frank House is a definite, absolute, have to, have to, must visit, place while in Amsterdam.
We had purchased our tickets online prior to our visit, and this allows you to select a specific time slot that best fits your schedule within Amsterdam. Our ticket also included a 30-minute introductory program. There is a side entrance by the canal, after the steps that will lead you into the building, with this ticket. So be a boss and book this ticket, it may be more expensive than the regular ticket but think about the time you will be saving to indulge in more merry making on the streets of Amsterdam.
We were late as we took our own sweet time strolling through the streets of Amsterdam, so I am not sure what we missed out on but nonetheless the experience went as follows:
You walk into the house and a screen provides you with an introduction and highlights the story of the house. If you are not much of a history buff or did not pay a lot of attention in your social studies class in school, pay special attention to this part of the experience, grab a headphone and select your preferred language and learn and feel.
I highly recommend that you also read up on the story, the personality and snippets from the diary prior to your visit here to get a more rewarding experience. Do some homework please (I may have lost a few readers here, for the ones who are still with me I Like You).
The house is filled with snippets from the diary and shows you the daily life of the family confined within it, their day to day ongoings and as you move through the house you learn and feel more about the horrors of this particular chapter in the history of our world.
At one moment as I walked through the house, it hit me that I was now walking the path of history, that a part of history happened right here and I am now a living breathing part of it, after this realization the experience became a much more personal one. I became one among the family and empathized immensely with what they experienced.
The walls provide you snapshots of what Anne wrote within her diary, her best quotes, her thoughts and her wishes and you realize that what she so craves for is something that we all take for granted, the wind in the hair, the feel of rain on skin, running around, the freedom, the absolute simplest joys in life that we fail to even acknowledge due to the pace with which we lead our lives today…..
By the time the walk around the house ended I was in tears and controlling my emotions and sadness at the pain this particular chapter within history experienced but since it was a public forum and there were people around, I tried desperately hard to retain my composure. I wasn’t sure if I should let my tears escape my eyes.
Everyone else around me seemed fine whereas I was humbled and moved and considered myself fortunate to be born and living in an age with such freedom and free will. I was broken yet I was re-built at the same time.
My glance fell upon another girl who was crying and being consoled by her partner, nonchalant to what the world around her thought of her, which is when I told myself that it is ok, that it is ok to let go, and so I did. Realizing only then that all I was doing was letting my tears find their freedom.
