And I would walk 22 kms!
Yep! That’s right. Shannie wandered for a total of 22 kms yesterday! Crazy? Why yes, yes I am.
I went to see Anne Frank’s statue which is on Merwedeplein. I know some of you have already found faster routes to accomplish said task but my goal is to get to know the city. So off I trekked in search of her statue.
The park is encompassed by a triangle of buildings that looks to be all one complex. The Frank’s residence I believe was 37C. I read that tidbit of information somewhere and have been unable to retrace my research to know absolutely. In any case the residence has been restored to its original 1930’s set up and is a writer’s residence for 1 year at a time for writers who cannot write freely in their country.
I then retraced my steps as a test for myself. Along the Amstel River there are many true houseboats…
I turned down one street too soon after a bridge I crossed and it was all head scratcher from there on in. A local, thankfully, was kind enough to come to my aid. Off I went to meet Corinna for a walk in Vondelpark and again I lost my sense of direction. Eventually she told me to meet her out front of the Riijksmuseum which is a hard building to miss. A stroll in Vondelpark with a stop at the Blue Tea House topped off the afternoon.
Today I decided it was time to hit the books so where to go to find some solitude… the Bibliotheek of course! Along my walk I passed Centraal Station.
So many buses, trams and subways. There is a significant amount of construction going on along that entire strip that I walked the wrong way. Bike paths are generally in red brick with pedestrian paths in grey. Well, the grey quickly disappeared and was replaced with a yellow curb. I suddenly had busses turning to the left of me and swarms of bikes to the right. Being an agile light-footed wonder I avoided contact and quickly found my feet beneath grey bricks again. *Whew* I eventually found a pedestrian who looked like he knew where he was going and followed him to this walkway that took me straight to the library.
It is such a wonderful open air concept library with plenty of work space available. Each floor is dedicated to a specific collection that is written in large letters on the ceiling of each escalator. There is also quite the security presence that I didn’t dare take out my camera for fear of it being confiscated. The top floor is a cafeteria so people could spend an entire day without having to leaves the premises. Hmmm, what a thought.