By Laura Wichmann Hipp
Yesterday we went on a tour of the annex where Anne Frank and her family lived in hiding for two years. 120,000 Jewish people from the Netherlands alone were taken to concentration camps. Earlier this summer in Greece, we learned that the city of Thessaloniki sent 43,000 in 1943. When the Franks were taken in 1944, the Allies had just landed in June; the Franks got word and were elated, thinking war and hiding would all be over soon. But on August 4, they were taken. Otto Frank, such an honorable man, lived to reunite with those who had helped them in hiding and had kept Anne’s diary. He devoted the rest of his life to "The Annex," as she had wanted her book to be called. You fall in love with her fresh, hopeful, honest spirit. The steeple pictured here is right outside their annex of her father’s work place, and she used to listen to the sound of its bells.
We went on a boat tour of the canals, where we saw grand narrow houses with Dutch gable roofs and a hook out the top middle to pull in goods and furniture. When Charleston was being settled in the 1600s, Amsterdam was having their golden age of tulips, sugar, and shipping. Steam-powered pumps saved their land from staying flooded. Making canals is what gave rise to inner land accessibility and fortunes in all levels of society, as Charleston did through shipping.
I took Victoria clothes shopping, which she never wants to do, as she did want to take advantage of sales everywhere on summer clothes since it has at last reached the 70s here! I bought her an adorable pants-dress. We ate at an Indian restaurant last night that’s been in Haarlem since 1986. Victoria has been aching all over, especially her back. I got her to have a Chinese massage. She now has no pain! We return Tuesday just before midnight.
Stay tuned to hear about today's mass at St. Bavo Cathedral in Haarlem!
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