Currently on MS Savor-Amsterdam to Milan
We are currently on this tour (day 7). Everything has been very good. Weather, river levels, food, service, etc. our tour is on the MS Savor. Ship has been very nicely updated.
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We are currently on this tour (day 7). Everything has been very good. Weather, river levels, food, service, etc. our tour is on the MS Savor. Ship has been very nicely updated.
Comments
We are going on the Amsterdam to Milan in July, 2025. Do you happen to recall how much time there is on Day 2 between the end of the canal cruise and the time the ship departs Amsterdam? We would like to go to the Anne Frank House, but tickets are online and must be purchased in advance with a time selected.
We have done this trip, and we have been to the Anne Frank House. I think you may be ‘event jamming’. We arrived early and did the Anne Frank House on our free day. I think wedging the Anne Frank House between the canal trip and boarding the ship would be a bit difficult.
I agree w/Sealord. The Anne Frank House is one of my favorite things we've done in all of Europe. It takes lots of time to go through the house and read about it. Then there is a great museum at the end that you'll want to explore. It is life-changing & emotional - it is not to be rushed through. Do it on a free day so you can take it all in.
I agree with Sealord. Being rushed will not do justice to the experience.
I also agree with all three above. When we went to the Anne Frank house it was many years ago when you just stood in line for tickets. There were people in line from all over the world. There was a man from Japan in front of us and my husband practiced his Japanese. The whole event was very moving.
Last year, my then 10 year old granddaughter had just read the book. When I told her I had been to the house, she said grandma, will you take me, please, please. I had to explain that it was not that simple but I hope to take her in the future if her parents don’t take her first.
If you haven’t seen the drama, A Small Light about Anne Frank and her family from the viewpoint of those who helped hide the family, I highly recommend it.
Hi Jnkg519 - when we did this tour last July, my husband woke at midnight to get online to purchase the tickets for Ann Frank. We got a reservation for the morning of the first day of the tour. I think it was an 0900 time slot. We then went to the Van Gogh museum and then to the ship that afternoon. I don’t recall how much time we had on day two between the tour and departing Amsterdam. But, I agree with those above, you do not want to be rushed.
For those who might be interested, go see The Lord in the Attic Museum. It is housed within a canal home and is a short walk from the Anne Frank House. It is a hidden Catholic Church from the 17th century when practicing the faith was forbidden; Mass is still performed there but very infrequently.
Did this trip in 2018. We made Anne Frank and Van Gogh reservations before we left. We were on the canal cruise the last day and the TD asked the boat crew to stop and let us off in front of the house so we could make our 3PM reservation which they did. It was extremely crowded in Anne Frank house and very claustrophobic because it’s not very large. It was well worth the visit though. Unfortunately we were unable to make the Van Gogh museum but will be with Tauck this September so we’ll try Van Gogh again.
Here is my favorite story from my first visit to the Anne Frank House in 2015. After walking through the house and watching a brief video afterward ( there was no video on my last visit in 2023 ) I was so emotional that I had to go outside and stand by the canal. This was before online ticket sales became popular so the line to enter was very long and snaked all around. A young man with an indistinguishable European accent asked me what all the people were waiting for. I replied that they were waiting to get into the Anne Frank House. He responded, “Oh, so they are waiting to meet her?”. As a retired high school history teacher I was dumbfounded but tried not to show it. I just said, “No, she died in the Holocaust”. The young man looked at me blankly. I then tried, “You know, she died when the Nazis sent her from this hiding place to a concentration camp.” To this day, I am still not sure that he understood. As shocked as I was by this, none of my Jewish friends were surprised when I told them my story. Travel leaves me speechless and then turns me into a storyteller.
Amsterdam is, after Rome, my favorite Western European city. The controversial Resistance Museum is my favorite, and it makes a good addition to a visit to Anne Frank’s house. The Resistance Museum is, however, not centrally located so you would be hard pressed to do both in your time frame. Whatever you do, please enjoy your trip and be ready to tell your stories!
I was on a layover in Boston one time having coffee with my first officer, and she asked what that row of bricks was in the sidewalk. After a minute or two I discovered she had no idea who Paul Revere was. So I took her on a little hike and we did the entire Freedom Trail around Boston.. She is Mexican/American but was born in the U.S. and went to U.S. schools. I don’t know what they teach in our schools, but many cannot read nor add.
I visited the Resistance Museum the last time I was in Amsterdam, to me it was well worth it.