Red Light District?  Nope, that’s my tiny room at the beautiful Toren Hotel.  Perfect for the solo traveler.  It’s an efficient little space with a great expresso maker.  Such a nice place to have a quick respite and prepare for the next leg of this journey.  It also gave me an opportunity to visit Anne Frank’s House which is literally just around the corner from Toren.  The line up was quite long and as my driver had said, today being Christmas Day Two or Second Christmas, it is a time to contemplate the past.  He noted that the line up would be long but fortunately I had bought a ticket online a few days ago and zipped right past.

Visiting Anne Frank’s House was a very sobering experience.  Many were visibly shaken.  The size of the crowd and the smallness of the living quarters and exhibit only emphasized how confining the “Secret Annex” must have been.  Anne aspired to be a journalist and a well recognized writer.  However, I’m sure she could never imagine how her daily writings would live on to affect so many.  I am glad that this venture to Mount Kilimanjaro has given me this opportunity to see Amsterdam for the first time.  It is definitely a place to come back and explore further with Jim.  And now onto Tanzania…

To quote Anne Frank’s words:
“I know what I want,
I have a goal,
I have opinions,
a religion
and love.”