Back in Blighty!

I've spent the last two weeks travelling between Germany and The Netherlands with my family, so I haven't been able to post a blog for a while. Not that anyone is reading this...yet.
We went by ferry to Holland, drove to Heidelberg to pick up my sister who has been living there for 6 months, then to Cologne then Amsterdam. All three cities are quite beautiful, but The Anne Frank house in Amsterdam stood out the most of all the places we went to. It was the actual place in which she and her family lived from 1942 to 1944, complete with the secret annexe. Her actual diary was also there; open with other extracts in other areas of the room. We saw where they slept and ate, and although you couldn’t go up into the attic, they placed a mirror underneath it so you could see into it. There were also pencil marks on one of the walls marking their growth during the two years they were in hiding. It was quite moving, and things got very emotional when we read about the deportation. Of course I already knew about it, but it was presented in a way that was very touching. Once you entered the house you followed a route, and at the beginning of this route were the pictures of all the people in hiding, and their dates of birth. At the end, you saw the same pictures again, but this time telling you about the circumstances of their deaths. There was also a screen showing the liberation of the concentration camps.
After leaving Anne Frank house, we went to the Homonument, the only memorial in the world that remembers the thousands of homosexuals who perished in the holocaust. It’s basically a huge pink marble triangle on the floor, with a candle, flowers and rainbow flags. My sister took some pictures; I will post them when I can get my hands on her camera. I never actually knew that the pink star originated from the symbol that homosexuals had to wear in the holocaust. It’s great to learn new things.
We also travelled by boat a lot whilst in Amsterdam; they actually use boats as an alternative to buses. (But you can still get buses, along with trains and also trams.) And no, I didn’t try out any of the “coffee shops” in Amsterdam. Like I would ever do that with my parents. I did however get drunk after one long island ice tea in Germany. They are very liberal with their alcohol there. I had two in London and didn’t even get tipsy.
The toilets in Germany were strange; they had shelves inside the bowl, which apparently the Germans used to examine their bowel movements in the olden days. That was quite funny. We also misjudged the weather and didn’t take any sun cream, so now we all resemble lobsters.
I got home this morning; we had to get up excruciatingly early because we had an overnight cabin on the boat and had to get off before a specific time. I did have a good time, but am glad to be back in Blighty! Now to prepare for University. I’m nervous and excited at the same time. I also have to buy tickets for the fresher’s week events before they sell out. Wish they didn’t start selling them so early, I haven’t even made any friends to go with!

Auf Wiedersehen!