We had a few hours of free time this morning before our drive to Germany from Amsterdam, so I decided to go to the Anne Frank House. You aren’t allowed to take pictures inside, so unfortunately, I don’t have any. The Anne Frank House is a self-guided museum. You get to pass through all of the rooms in the building where Anne and her family hid during World War II.

The rooms are mostly empty except for the museum artifacts, including Anne’s original diary. Apparently, Anne’s father insisted that the rooms remain empty to symbolize the void left behind by the millions of people who were deported and never returned. The most thought-provoking part was when you passed through the opening behind the bookcase to the secret annex and went through the rooms where Anne and her family hid. Anne writes in her diary about the black-out curtains that had to be kept shut at all times. The museum has covered these windows with black- out fabric as well. I got a really eerie feeling walking through the room that was Anne’s which still had the newspaper clippings of celebrities she had glued to the walls to make the room less gloomy behind a protective plastic layer. This is probably the most worthwhile tourist attraction in Amsterdam.