Day 4...The Hague Temple and The Anne Frank Home

We went to two special places on Saturday in The Netherlands...The Hague Temple and the Home of Anne Frank.  Both experiences were  good, though very different also.  I'm so glad we spent the day learning once again!

The Hague Temple

We saw that there was a temple in The Netherlands...in The Hague, so we set out to find it on Saturday morning.  Google said it would take less than an hour to travel by car from Amsterdam to The Hague.

We took a train, then transferred to a tram, and then on to a bus...Mark asked the bus driver if he knew where the Mormon Temple was...and he said (in English) of course!  We were happy!
We were dropped off at the bus stop below and walked a short distance into the front doors.

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we can attend temples that are scattered around the world (currently the church has 137 operating throughout the world).  

The workers at the temple spoke Dutch and a few even spoke English.

I was glad that we successfully found the temple and attended on this blustery spring day.

The grounds of the temple in the Netherlands were also beautiful...filled with many spring flowers in bloom.

We were ready to return to Amsterdam...We waited at the bus stop across the street..and though cold and windy the time flew by a littler quicker  because of a friendly man from South Africa who had seen us in the temple.

The countryside to and from Amsterdam was  beautiful...lots of green grass, a few windmills, and beautiful homes. Now we were ready to see another special place.

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I had never read the story of Anne Frank when I was a young girl in school, though it was a required reading for my children. I had down loaded the story on my Kindle thinking I would read it one day.  A number of weeks ago, I began reading her story.

Knowing that the Anne Frank Home was in Amsterdam, I was hoping to find it while here and take a tour.   Though cool and rainy, we stood in a line (for only 30 minutes) along with many other tourists in order to go inside her home.  We read this site was one of the most toured sites in all of Amsterdam.

Here is view of the church next to her home....The Westerkerk.  Anne Frank often talks about the bells she heard daily coming from this church. They consistently brought her comfort.

An aerial view of Amsterdam during the 1940's near the home of Anne Frank.  The blue/green highlighted building is where her family was in hiding for 2 years.

Here is  a picture of the diary that Anne was given on her 13th birthday. This is where she began recording her thoughts, feelings and experiences during the 2 years that her family was in hiding.

The Anne Frank home is empty inside except for some descriptions, and video recordings that you can view.  There are also a few items left on the walls and protected with glass that were at the home when Anne and her family were there.   

I appreciated the layout, the steep staircases, and the steps I walked.  Now when I am reading her story...this is the place I picture.

I love the picture below. Of the eight people that were hiding, only Anne's father Otto Frank survived. Here he is back inside their home in Amsterdam after the war was over.  

What a great Saturday it has been for us in The Netherlands!