The last time I was in Amsterdam, my whiplash Trafalgar tour zipped through the city so fast, I didn't have time to explore the sights. Ergo my Golden Rule of Travel: See it now cause you never know when you'll be back. In this case, almost a decade later, I'm finally back to check out Anne Frank's house and the Museum of Sex. Well, this is Amsterdam, y'know.

Anne Frank's House Museum
Remember the story of Anne Frank?  The 13-year-old girl whose family hid in an annex to escape WWII deportation to a concentration camp? Well, the annex where her family hid for two years, is in central Amsterdam. I've especially wanted to see the annex because in my senior high school play, I played Mr. Frank in the Diary of Anne Frank.  

The Annex is behind a shop front that looks out onto one of the several concentric canals throughout Amsterdam. As I wait in the museum's long line outside, I hear canal boat traffic and bells from the nearby church, and wonder if Anne heard 'em too. Inside the museum, we walk through the several rooms of the Annex. Actual items found in the annex are displayed in display cases in the various rooms. It's eerie seeing Mrs' Frank's prayer book and Peter's board game, both of which Anne described in her diary. It's also powerful walking into Anne's bedroom, where her collage of movie star photo news clippings decorates the walls, just the way they found it when Mr. Frank returned the annex after WWII. I can still feel Anne's hopeful spirit reflected in these photos of smiling celebrities from the 40s. Her bedroom is actually bigger than I thought, about 6 x 10 feet, which makes it bigger than most New York apartments. Anne's now-famous red-and-green plaid diary is at the end of the exhibit. It's still a mystery who ratted on the Frank family's hide-out. Not as big a mystery as Stonehenge, but Angela Lansbury oughta work on this one.

Finally, there's a temporary (I think) interactive video exhibit which gets you to think about discrimination and racism. Using Yes or No buttons, everyone in the room gets to vote on whether whether a recent taken-from-the-news controversial expression should be allowed under free speech or banned, ranging a French politician's racist statements, to Eminem's lyrics. (In case you were wondering, the crowd of museum-goers I'm with votes that Eminem's lyrics are OK, but the politician's racist statements ar not.)

Museum of Sex
The Museum of Sex boldly shows what no museum has shown before: sexy artifacts from all cultures. The museum starts of with Greek and Roman sculptures of satyrs, who represented sex. It then includes some Polynesian wood carvings, Asian ivory sculptures, Kama Sutra playing cards, and European aristocracy sculptures and cane handles, all depicting sexy acts. I sure didn't see any of this in the Louvre, British Museum, or Prado! That's probably because there are some uh, pretty kinky drawings and sculptures....Parents would get peeved if the school's class field trip went to this museum. Nevertheless, it is a nice museum break.

Red Light District

No photos allowed for obvious reasons, so I got this photo from Radio Nederland's site.

The oldest profession in the world is legal in Amsterdam.  And regulated, believe it or not. Every prostitute has to have a license and a health test, and every brothel has to have a valid permit.  The uh....action happens in the Red Light District, located conveniently next to the train station. The red neon lights above shop fronts indicate open for business.  Classy live sex shows and sleazy live-peep show booths add to the mix.  It's very surreal.