Amsterdam

Located on Amsterdam's famous Prinsengracht, the famous building which hid the Frank and Van Pels families and Fritz Pfeffer during the Holocaust and Nazi occupation of the Netherlands is now a museum. Visitors enter the building and begin a tour of the downstairs area which once housed Otto Frank's company and hid the famous secret annex above. Visitors will see the bookcase hiding the door to the hiding place and venture upstairs to the small space shared by eight people hiding for their lives. The annex is now devoid of any furniture, but plaques along the way provide information about each individual room, its occupants and their daily routines while in hiding. The last room is a moving tribute to the Franks, Van Pels and Pfeffer, of whom all died in Concentration Camps except for Otto Frank, as well as the millions of victims of the Holocaust. There is also a display of numerous versions of Anne Frank's Diary, the found after the war and published by her father Otto. This is truly an obligatory and sobering experience in Amsterdam.

Since 1973, this museum has housed the world's largest collection of Van Goghs, including paintings, drawings and letters. The museum also has a large collection of works by some of Van Gogh’s contemporaries and friends like Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec, as well as a number of older artists whom Van Gogh admired, including Léon L’hermitte and Jean-François Millet. The museum features regular exhibitions highlighting art toward the end of the 19th Century.

Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, full of impressive architecture, lovely canals that criss-cross the city, great shopping and friendly people (who nearly all speak English). There is something for every traveler’s taste here, whether you prefer culture and history, serious partying or just the relaxing charm of an old European city.

The city is known for its historic port, the sprawling Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the beautiful concentric canals, and the red-light district (De Wallen) and its liberal coffee shops (which sell cannabis). Other attractions include the Van Gogh Museum, the old Heineken Brewery and NEMO, the largest science center in the Netherlands.

During the Dutch Golden Age, Amsterdam was one of the most important ports in the world, and it became the leading center for finance and diamonds.

The city was founded in the late 12th century as a small fishing village, and has grown to become the largest city in the Netherlands with a population comprised of 177 different nationalities, which makes Amsterdam the most multicultural city in the world.

Text courtesy of Wikipedia and Wikitravel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam; http://wikitravel.org/en/Amsterdam