Monday 9 January 2012

amsterdam


My mother took a picture of me talking about the architecture, hence the Silly Hands of Enthusiasm.


Example of aforementioned architecture.


Me trying on the most beautiful shoes in the existence of time. (Far, far, far too expensive. Unfortunately.) 



Amsterdam was everything I'd dreamt of and more. My first day was spent in consistent awe. (I've seen beautiful cities before, but this? I was not prepared to lose my heart so fast and so permanently.) My mother and I kept stopping every few metres to sigh at the beauty of everything. Winding our way through narrow streets, incredible winds and the incessant tolling of church bells, dodging the most reckless cyclists I've ever seen. It was, in short, spectacular.

(Now it's all school and studying again, long days spent girding my loins for revision. It was the best thing possible to get away from it all for a few days, to visit Van Gogh and Anne Frank and then return feeling a bit more like a person than before.)

(My mother took all the pictures, I was too lazy to bring along a camera. 
So thank her, that is if you indeed wish to thank anyone, for the visual evidence.)


4 comments:

  1. How did the Anne Frank's house make you feel? I bursted in tears while being there. No other place has ever made me feel like that.

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  2. Oh goodness, the Anne Frank House had me on the brink of tears from start to finish. When watching the interview of Otto Frank I wept like I rarely do. We had booked our tickets beforehand, so we were given a short background info presentation thing on Anne's life before walking through the museum - kind of unnecessary (I read her diary aged nine and have been fascinated ever since, plus I'm a huge history nerd) but it certainly made the experience even more emotional.

    I thought the museum was fantastic - both respectful and informative, and very touching. The empty rooms and the quotes from her diary had an incredible impact on every visitor we saw.

    I was kind of emotionally prepared for the visit, since I've been reading a lot about the Holocaust during the past year or so. But it was still a shattering experience and I think the place will stay with me for a long time. (I hope it was good preparation for my school trip to Auschwitz this spring. If Anne's house was devastating, I can't imagine how I'll feel at Auschwitz.)

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  3. voi ihania tunnelmia! fiilaan kybällä! ps. oot super cool elegantti olento tossa ekassa :)

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