Cafe Amnesia

Hi, I'm writing this from Amsterdam, which I think is quickly becoming my favourite city on earth...Apart from being very cold, requiring you to wear a coat, hat, scarf and gloves all the time, it is so beautiful. Almost every second street is a canal, and all the houses are narrow, joined together, and many storeys high. When people move out, they have to winch everything up and down with a pulley, which is attached to the top of the roof of every house.

Everyone rides bikes here, and you're constantly almost getting run over by cyclists (or at least I am!).

Some of you might know that in Amsterdam there are cafes where it is legal to smoke pot; they are called 'Browncafes'', and can be distinguished from other eating places by the smell which wafts out their doors, and their names, which tend to be things like ''cafe amnesia'', etc. I think it's a cool idea, but I can't imagine eating in a place that smelled like pot...but I guess that's really not the point.

We were in Paris for the past few days, and we did lots of fantastic things. We went to the Musee D'Orsay, a fantastic art gallery in an old train station, and the Louvre. I'd never been there, because the queues are always massive, but we went on Wednesday in the middle of the night, and it was less crowded than a regular Australian art gallery!! I saw the Mona Lisa (which is behind bullet proof glass) with only four other people. Usually you have to queue up to see it!

For the shopaholics among you, I did go shopping in Paris, but I didn't buy anything. I went to Galleries Lafayette, which is gigantic and was decorated with amazing Christmas lights. I took a photo, and when I get home I"ll try to upload it somehow so you can see what it looks like.

Today (in Amsterdam) I went to Anne Frank House, which is a museum, as well as the house where she, her family, and four others were hiding during WWII. It was incredibly confronting, and there were many things there which made me cry. What really set me off were the pencil marks on the wall of Anne's parents'bedroom, which recorded her sister Margot's and her height during the years they spent in hiding. Neither of them ever grew as tall as I am.

Through Anne's diary, one of the 6 million victims of the Holocaust has been given a voice. And her voice is so eloquent. If I lived for 100 years I could never hope to become as good a writer as she was at 13. To have deprived the world of the author or journalist she undoubtably would have become is so unjust and tragic.

Cafe Amnesia

Hi, I'm writing this from Amsterdam, which I think is quickly becoming my favourite city on earth...Apart from being very cold, requiring you to wear a coat, hat, scarf and gloves all the time, it is so beautiful. Almost every second street is a canal, and all the houses are narrow, joined together, and many storeys high. When people move out, they have to winch everything up and down with a pulley, which is attached to the top of the roof of every house.

Everyone rides bikes here, and you're constantly almost getting run over by cyclists (or at least I am!).

Some of you might know that in Amsterdam there are cafes where it is legal to smoke pot; they are called 'Browncafes'', and can be distinguished from other eating places by the smell which wafts out their doors, and their names, which tend to be things like ''cafe amnesia'', etc. I think it's a cool idea, but I can't imagine eating in a place that smelled like pot...but I guess that's really not the point.

We were in Paris for the past few days, and we did lots of fantastic things. We went to the Musee D'Orsay, a fantastic art gallery in an old train station, and the Louvre. I'd never been there, because the queues are always massive, but we went on Wednesday in the middle of the night, and it was less crowded than a regular Australian art gallery!! I saw the Mona Lisa (which is behind bullet proof glass) with only four other people. Usually you have to queue up to see it!

For the shopaholics among you, I did go shopping in Paris, but I didn't buy anything. I went to Galleries Lafayette, which is gigantic and was decorated with amazing Christmas lights. I took a photo, and when I get home I"ll try to upload it somehow so you can see what it looks like.

Today (in Amsterdam) I went to Anne Frank House, which is a museum, as well as the house where she, her family, and four others were hiding during WWII. It was incredibly confronting, and there were many things there which made me cry. What really set me off were the pencil marks on the wall of Anne's parents'bedroom, which recorded her sister Margot's and her height during the years they spent in hiding. Neither of them ever grew as tall as I am.

Through Anne's diary, one of the 6 million victims of the Holocaust has been given a voice. And her voice is so eloquent. If I lived for 100 years I could never hope to become as good a writer as she was at 13. To have deprived the world of the author or journalist she undoubtably would have become is so unjust and tragic.