"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world" - Anne Frank

Not a travel quote today, but a good quote nonetheless. Today Amber and I stood out in the cold in a long lineup to tour the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. At first we were overwhelmed by the size of the line and debated going in. We were both glad we did. I was moved to tears in the first five minutes. It was unbelievable to be in the same building as Anne and her family and the friends who lived with them and those who helped them. To pass through the same bookcase that their captors eventually went through into their hiding space. I was impressed that even on a cold, off season, Monday, there were SO many people! It gives me hope that people are still being educated on discrimination and prejudice, and the heartbreak caused by it. I wonder though how Anne would view the state of our world today? In so many places these kind of atrocities are still occurring, daily. I won't dwell on that though, I will just remain hopeful and believe in the good in people. As Anne said "In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death."

We also rode for a bit in the canals, one of those things that sounded like a good idea but we probably could have saved our money. You see more walking through the town. I love the idea of travelling water streets though. We passed a lot of house boats and I like how they have their teeny little motor boats to ride around in. The way some have a car parked outside of their house or apartment.

Sheldon stayed home alone today as he is still recovering from this cold, which was too bad as we went to the Rijskmuseum, which houses paintings by  VanGogh, Rembrandt and Vermeer among many others. I enjoyed it but it was SO busy, so many people! We learned from a local the other day that we would probably like the museum Mauritshuis in the Hague better, so we had planned on that as well, hopefully Sheldon will feel better for that tomorrow. It's all Dutch artists including "Girl with the pearl earring" by Vermeer. The other three are tolerating the art museums, and have found one or two things that they like, at least they will be able to say things like "oh, I saw that", when it comes to some of the famous pieces.

On our way back to central station Kelsey punched in the address and so we followed the Google maps app, straight through what we can only assume is what is known as "red light district". There were different "cafes" and then an entire apartment building where each window held a lovely lady in her underwear! I kind of just grabbed Ambers hand and barrelled through, it was interesting I suppose but I didn't want to linger and see what else would happen. Thanks google maps for finding the most direct route, hahaha!

Tomorrow is our last day in Delft and I am going to miss this place, this house, and those church bells! I'm excited about our next stop but surprised at how I don't feel quite ready to leave! We haven't done as much as we originally planned when we got here, due to our catching colds, but it's been nice settling in a bit, getting some laundry done, eating some home cooking and relaxing and healing. XO Wendi