Amsterdam day 2

Our second day in Amsterdam and we were keen to explore a bit more. We ate breakfast at Bagels and Beans opposite our hotel room with a beautiful view over the River IJ to Tolhuistuin and the Eye museum. We then took the free ferry across the river (yes free and they run all day regularly) to see what was over there. We thought about going up the A'dam Lookout for good views of Amsterdam but it was too expensive.  There's a swing at the top that swings out over the edge of the building but we opted against this - there were plenty of nutters tourists giving it a go though! We decided to return later with bikes to explore a bit more and caught the ferry back over (we didn't manage to do this as we were exhausted later on).
We bought a 24 hour OV-chipkaart in the station and jumped on a tram to Vondelpark. It was a beautiful morning and we enjoyed walking around away from the crowds in the city centre. We spotted lots of ducklings and enjoyed a cuppa by the lake. It's well worth a visit if you're in Amsterdam. 
We took another tram to a very moving Holocaust memorial, had cake and a cuppa in an old pub, walked around the area exploring and then jumped back on the tram to Dam square to see the Royal palace. This was closed unfortunately but was worth seeing from the outside and this part really reminded me of Bruges.
While walking around The Nine Streets, I spotted these memorial plaques that are on the floor in certain places around Holland either outside or opposite the homes where Jews lived before they were sent to concentration camps during World War two. They detail who lived in the houses, where and when they died or if they survived the atrocities.
Following this, we were almost at our timed slot to visit Anne Frank's house (you need to book this 6 weeks in advance). It was about to start raining so we sheltered and waited in a café around the corner. Anne Frank's house was extremely emotional and I'm so glad that we visited. I started reading her diaries before we left to help me to understand what she experienced and this was definitely worthwhile. 
Finally, after another exhausting day, we headed back to the hotel ready for an early morning the following day.