14: Amsterdam and Environs in VS .NET

Encoder Data Matrix 2d barcode in VS .NET 14: Amsterdam and Environs

The I amsterdam card gets you into most Amsterdam museums, including all listed here except the Anne Frank House, plus a free canal cruise and free rides on public transportation It costs 33 ($53) for 24 hours, 43 ($69) for 48 hours, or 53 ($85) for 72 hours, and you can buy the card at any tourist office If you re under 26, you can buy a Cultureel Jongeren Pas (CJP Cultural Youth Passport), entitling you to discounts at 1,500 places (museums, movie theaters, concerts, record stores, and so on) across the Netherlands The pass costs 15 ($24) and is good for a year; for more info, go to wwwcjpnl

Amsterdams Historisch Museum (Amsterdam Historical Museum)

Center Housed in a 17th-century orphanage building, and with exhibits that cover 700 years of city history, this fascinating museum gives you a better understanding of everything you see as you explore Amsterdam Gallery by gallery, century by century, you learn how a fishing village became a major world trading center The main focus is on the city s 17th-century Golden Age, a period when Amsterdam was the richest city in the world, and some of the most interesting exhibits are of the trades that made it rich You can also view many famous paintings by Dutch masters Next to the museum is the Schuttersgalerij (Civic Guard Gallery), a narrow chamber bedecked with 17th-century group portraits of city militiamen; the open hours for this gallery are the same as for the museum, and admission is free See map p 264 Kalverstraat 92, Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 357, and Sint-Luci nsteeg 27 (next to the Begijnhof) % 020-523-1822 wwwahmnl Tram: 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 14, 16, 24, or 25 to Spui Admission: 7 ($11) adults, 525 ($840) seniors, 350 ($560) children 6 18 Open: Mon Fri 10 am 5 pm; Sat Sun and holidays 11 am 5 pm Closed Jan 1, Apr 30, Dec 25

Anne Frankhuis (Anne Frank House)

Canal Belt As 13-year-old Anne Frank began her diary in July 1942, she dealt with the usual problems of adolescence, including feelings about her family and the boy next door She also included the defining fact of her life: She was Jewish and had just moved into a hidden apartment with seven other people, comprising two families and a family friend, as the Nazis occupied Amsterdam Anne lived here for two years, with only a crack in the window and some pictures of movie stars on the wall to remind her of the outside world The Franks and their companions were betrayed eventually, and they all were deported to concentration camps Anne went first to Auschwitz, and then was moved to Bergen-Belsen when the Nazis retreated She died of typhus just weeks before the camp was liberated Of the eight people who

lived in the attic, only her father, Otto, survived His model of the rooms as they looked in those years of concealment and Anne s photos on the walls are all that adorn the small apartment hidden behind a swinging bookcase A photograph downstairs details the Holocaust in Amsterdam, and the bookshop carries copies of Anne s remarkable diary in dozens of languages Half a million people come to pay their respects here every year, so expect crowds and arrive early, or, in summer, late See map p 264 Prinsengracht 267 (just above Westermarkt) % 020-556-7105 www annefrankorg Tram: 13, 14, or 17 to Westermarkt Admission: 750 ($12) adults, 350 ($560) children 10 17 Open: Mid-Mar to June and 1st 2 weeks Sept Sun Fri 9 am 9 pm, Sat 9 am 10 pm; July Aug daily 9 am 10 pm; mid-Sept to mid-Mar daily 9 am 7 pm; Jan 1 noon to 7 pm; May 4 9 am 7 pm; Dec 21 and 31 9 am 5 pm; Dec 25 noon to 5 pm Closed Yom Kippur (usually in late Sept or early Oct)

Joods Historisch Museum (Jewish Historical Museum)

Waterlooplein To dig deeper into the history of Amsterdam s Jewish population, visit this vast museum in what was the heart of the Jewish district It chronicles the 400 years of Jewish history and culture in the city Ever a tolerant country, the Netherlands welcomed hundreds of mainly Sephardic Jews fleeing persecution in Spain and Portugal in the 15th and 16th centuries Although at first restricted to certain trades such as diamond-cutting, by 1796, Jews in Amsterdam were granted full civil rights (unheard of in that era in Europe), a position they enjoyed until the Nazi occupation Across the street at Mr Visserplein 3, the Portuguese Synagogue, built in 1665, is the only still-functioning temple to survive from that period See map p 264 Jonas Dani l Meijerplein 2 4 (off Waterlooplein) % 020-626-9945 wwwjhmnl Tram: 9 or 14 to Waterlooplein Admission: 750 ($12) adults, 450 ($720) seniors and students, 3 ($480) children 13 17 Open: Daily 11 am 5 pm (to 9 pm Thurs); Jan 1 noon to 5 pm Closed Rosh Hashanah (2 days, usually in Sept), Yom Kippur (usually in late Sept or early Oct)

Ons Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Lord in the Attic)

Center In the heart of the Red-Light District, this tiny, well-preserved baroque church spreads across the connected third floors of three 17th-century homes Today Amsterdam is famed for its tolerance, but in the 16th and 17th centuries, the practice of any religion except for the official Calvinist Dutch Reformed Church was forbidden To worship, Jews, Mennonites, Lutherans (for a time), and, in this instance, Catholics, had to go underground or aboveground, as the case may be and hold services in secret One of the houses below the church has been restored for visitors it s the oldest house in Amsterdam open to the public See map p 264 Oudezijds Voorburgwal 40 (3 blocks from Centraal Station, on the far side of Damrak) % 020-624-6604 wwwopsoldernl Tram: 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 13, 14, 16,