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A compendium of things to know, things to do, places to go and people to see: Check it out



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21st Century Amsterdam

Online shopping guide in English

website



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AEX

Amsterdam stock exchange's blue chip index. It has 25 stocks, including such international favourites as Unilever, Philips, Heineken and TNT. Amsterdam stock exhange is now part of Euronext, a pan-European bourse made up of the Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam and Lisbon stock exchanges.

www.euronext.com



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AMC

The Amsterdams Medisch Centrum is Amsterdam University' highly respected teaching hospital in Zuid-Oost.

The website seems to be pretty much all in Dutch.



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AT5

Amsterdam's very own television station which lurches from financial difficulty to financial difficulty. The city council wants to get rid of it, but plans to sell it off to cable group UPC for just one euro were dropped at the last minute.

Apparently, 50% of the population watch AT5 every day. I think its great. For the traffic news, the reporter actually goes out to a trouble spot (well, with half the city dug up for road works not too hard to do). And the weather is always read out by some bumbling local. My neighbour got asked to do it after he had been to the post office. My son's primary school class did it in unison. Eat your heart out CNN.


website all in Dutch



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Aalsmeer

Centre of the Dutch flower and plant industry with the world's biggest auction house - with sales of €6.6 million every day. In fact, Aalsmeer is one enormous greenhouse. It's very close to Schiphol airport. That wierd orange glow you fly over at night? That's Aalsmeer.

Town council



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Agnes B

The very fabbie French fashion house. Only Dutch branch.

126 Rokin



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Agnietenkapel

Part of the convent of St Agnes until the Alteration in 1578, the chapel was home to the precursor of Amsterdam University, known as Athenaeum Illustre. Still part of the university and used for meetings, lectures, exhibitions etc. Fully renovated in 2007.

UvA press release

Oudezijds Voorburgwal 231



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Ajax

Amsterdam professional football club. Listed on the stock exchange. Arouses the same passions and emotions as every football club. If Ajax wins anything, there always used to be a huge celebration on the Leidseplein followed by riots. In 2007, when Ajax took the Dutch Cup, they moved the celebrations to the Museumplein but there were still riots.

The club can organise tours of the Arena stadium on request - a popular birthday party for small boys.

website



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Albert Cuyp Market

Longest street market in Europe, so it claims. Food, clothes, accessories and household supplies. Fantastic fish stalls.

The market is in the heart of the Pijp, an working class area of Amsterdam that a few years ago no-one would touch with a barge pole. Now it is deeply hip and trendy and full of smart cafés and tapas bars.

Albert Cuypstraat.



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Allard Pierson Museum

I have not been here for years, so this entry might be a bit unfair. I do remember a dry and dusty collection of archaeological relics. But this whole stretch of the Oude Turfmarkt is being done up and rebuilt by the university, so things might have changed.

Oude Turfmarkt 127

website

The collection includes Coptic, Greek, Etruscan, Cypriot and Egyptian relics, and special exhibitions are staged regularily. There are bits of mummies -- including several heads and feet, a jointed Greek doll from 300 BC and you can write your own name in hierogliphics. But the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden is far superior. Leiden links

Continue reading....


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Alteration

In May 1578, Amsterdam switched sides during the 80 Years War with Spain and became staunchly Protestant. Catholics were expelled from the city and forbidden to worship in public, hence all the secret churches like Ons Lieve Heer op solder.



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American Hotel

The Grand Café Americain has just been totally rennovated and brought back to its original Art Deco condition. Hopefully the waiters are not quite so rude these days. Upstairs are 174 rooms. Now part of the Eden hotel group which urges you to 'love city life'.

This hotel was built in 1902. Why American? Before that another hotel occupied the site. That one was designed by an architect who had studied in the US and covered the building with wooden figures of native Americans and murals of American landscapes. The name stuck.

Leidsekade 97

website



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Amstel river

Apparently, the Amstel's name is derived from Aeme stelle, old Dutch for 'area abounding with water'. The Amstel starts just south of Uithoorn and ends at Amsterdam where it used to meet the IJ. However, in 1936 the last part of the river (the Rokin) was filled in, so the river now ends at Spui square, although it remains connected to the IJ through subterraneous pipes.

Amsterdam took its name from the river. The city developed out of a small fishing village called Amstelredam, built in the 13th century alongside a dam at the mouth of the river.

wikipedia has loads more



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Amstelkerk

Completed in 1670, the Amstelkerk was originally meant to be a temporary structure, while funds were being raised to built a massive new church on the Botermarkt, now know the Rembrandtsplein. The money was never raised, so the wooden building, with its cobbled floor (because no burials were to take place there) still exists. It has now been converted into offices and a café. You can sit in the sun while the kids run riot on the playground. Or you get married in it.

Amstelveld 2-6



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Amstelkring, Ons Lieve Heer Op Solder

An undervalued gem. The Amstelkring or Ons Lieve Heer Op Solder (Our Dear Lord in the Attic) is a 17th century merchant's home in the red light district with a secret Catholic church in the attic. If you have just two hours to visit an Amsterdam attraction, this should be it. Apart from the church, there is a splendid drawing room.

Oudezijds Voorburgwal 40

website

Continue reading....


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Amsterdam Historical Museum

The Amsterdams Historisch Museum, is to be found in two former orphanages. If you are interested in the city's history, it is a must. And the courtyard cafe is a good stop-off on a Kalverstraat shopping expedition.

Kalvestraat 92 or Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 357

website



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Amsterdam Partners

A joint initiative between the city council, business, the universities and anyone else with a vested interest.

Here is the Mission Statement

'The goal of Amsterdam Partners is to promote and improve the image of Amsterdam and the surrounding region among relevant target groups in the Netherlands and abroad. The improvement and raising of Amsterdam's profile is guided by a single concept for the city's national and international positioning: Amsterdam is distinctive for its combination of creativity, innovation and commercial spirit.'

Need I say more? Amsterdam Partners are (is?) close associates of the equally cringe-making I Amsterdam initiative. Why does marketing speak always sound so hollow?

website

There are various other initiatives around as well to promote the city - Amsterdam Topstad (top city) for example - another city council organisation.

Perhaps putting all this manpower and money into making sure the city did not look like a building site and that the taxis were okay might do the trick as well?



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Amsterdam School

de%20schip%20klerk%20amsterdam.jpg

A group of idealistic architects who built some of Amsterdam's more extraordinary buildings between 1910 and the early 1920s. Complicated brickwork, small windows and sweeping curves are characteristic of the style. The Schip (ship), designed by Michel de Klerk, is home to a museum dedicated to the Amsterdam School. The Dageraad complex (Pieter Lodewijk Takstraat) is another fabulous example, with a ribboned facade and undulating roofs.

Hemsbrugstraat, Westerpark (tram 3 or 10 and walk a bit)
website (lots of languages, including Japanese)



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Amsterdamse Bos

A very large, totally man-made natural area south of the city - you can't really call it a park - its 935 hectares. The Bos was devised in 1900 or work really began in the 1930s as an unemployment project during the crisis years.

137 km of footpaths, 51km of cycle tracks, jogging routes and horse riding. You can rent a boat on the lake, see open air theatre in the summer and it is one of the few places you can sledge if it every snows. Good for picnics in the summer - you can usually find a quiet place.

The Bosbaan rowing lake is the oldest manmade rowing course in the world. It was built in 1936 and has been twice widened since then.

website



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Anne Frank Huis

The Anne Frank industry grows and grows. If you want to really savour the atmosphere of the house where Anne and her family hid during World War II you need to get there very very early in the morning to avoid the crowds.

In late 2007 and early 2008 there was a huge row about plans to demolish the horse chestnut tree Anne wrote about in her diary. It is now held up with a huge steel cage.

Prinsengracht 267

Anne Frank foundation website

There were other secret attics and annexes where Jewish families hid - occasionally a new one is discovered and written about in the papers. Friends of mine found a tiny secret room when they were rennovating their house in an old part of the city. I was told that the owner of the building had been condemmed as a collaborator during the war because he made shaving mirrors for German soldiers. He could never say he had people hiding upstairs.



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Antiques

The area around the Spiegelstraat is home to a wealth of antique shops.



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Arcam

Aims to bring architecture to a wider group. Can they explain why Amsterdam has quite so many hideous new buildings, like the monstrosities next to Central Station?

Prins Hendrikkade 600

website



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Architecture

Where do you start? Amsterdam has such a wealth of fabulous buildings and some deeply horrible ones as well. Every year there is a poll to find the city's worst building; the ridiculous Ibis Hotel next to Central Station is always in the top three - how anybody got permission to build that monstrosity is a mystery. The Dutch central bank building on the Fredriksplein is also a popular nominee. The Parool newspaper has photos of the worst

Cees Noteboom has written a book on 25 buildings in Amsterdam you should not miss.

The city's own office of list of the city's top 100 buildings.

The Amsterdam Centre for Architecture Arcam has a wealth of information and is housed itself in a very wacky structure on the Prinshendrikkade water front.



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Art galleries

I don't buy art. I like going to openings, however.

Daniel Gould produces an excellent weekly round-up of the Amsterdam arts and gallery scene. Contact him by email to be added to his list.

For art galleries as in museums, check out the fabulous newyorkamsterdam website.

For modern art: many galleries are located in the Spiegelkwartier. Some of the big names include Reflex, Delaive and Douwes. The Amsterdam Info website has a long list.

There is a Sunday art market on the Thorbeckeplein

And don't forget the mighty Affordable Art Fair at the very end of October



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Artis (zoo)

What can I say? The city's zoo. The aquariums are wonderful but the rest is a typical example of a Victorian zoo trying to go modern. In particular, the big cats are in tiny enclosures and there is a very sad polar bear.

www.artis.nl



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BN'er

BN’er stands for Bekende Nederlander, or famous Dutch person. It is the title given to a host of soap stars, entertainers and other personalities who fill the gossip columns and turn out in droves to film premieres. Top-ranked BN’ers include football wife Estelle Gullit, anti-wrinkle queen Vanessa and tv show host Paul de Leeuw. The quickest way to become a minor BN’er is to get a role on a reality tv show or bring out a rap record with Ali B.

Definition from www.dutchnews.nl



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Bars

The city is full of them.



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Batavia


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Bed & Breakfast

I've no experience with B&B in Amsterdam, so good luck with Google.



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Beer

In early 2007, the Netherlands' café and bar owners called for a reduction in beer prices, following the record fines levied on the country's big brewers for price-fixing by the European Commission. The three biggest Dutch beer groups - Heineken, Grolsch and Bavaria - were fined a total of €274m for price-fixing between 1996 and 1999.

It took the Commission nearly 10 years to decide what to do about the brewers who are all going to appeal anyway, so you can wait a long while yet for your beer price cut.

Amsterdam has a couple of specialist beer shops.

The Bierkoning claims to have sold 3,000 different types of beer.

Brouwerij 't IJ is a tiny independent brewery next to a windmill in Oost.

Holland even has its own beer portal



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Begijnhof

They are a militant lot, the elderly ladies who live in the Begijnhof - a little oasis of calm in the middle of the busy city. And they want to keep it that way. In fact, they had become so fed up of the tourist intrusions that they wanted to shut off the hof from the rest of the world. The city council disagreed. It is, after all, a public right of way.

The best time to visit the Begijnhof (Beguinage) is early in the morning. Dating back to 1346, the Begijnhof was originaly built as a sanctury for women and girls who wanted to avoid being forced to marry and lead a convent life without being nuns - the Begijntjes. Today it is like a film set - a grassy square with a white-washed church, surrounded by pretty houses.

Spui (wooden door to the left of the Esprit café)

Continue reading....


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Beurs van Berlage

The city council is always promising to clean up the Damrak - a horrible mishmash of cheap hotels, pizzerias and tatty souvenir shops. But it does have a few redeming features.

One is the Berlage stock exchange - which is possibly the most important building to emerge from the Amsterdam School. It was only used for a few years, because the stock brokers did not like it. It now houses exhibitions and concerts and, if you have enough cash, private parties.

In the main exhibition room a frieze shows the evolution of man from Adam to stockbroker. The beautifully-restored art deco cafe is worth a visit if you like that kind of thing.

The city centre borough council wants to sell the Beurs because they can't make any money out of it. They must be doing something wrong.

Overlooking Beurs Plein to the right of Hendrick Berlage's building is the current stock exchange, the Effectenbeurs which, despite its appearance, was actually built 10 years after Berlage's. But now screen trading has replaced the pit, it too is largely redundant.

Damrak 243
website



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Bevrijdingsdag

May 5. Liberation Day, when the end of the German occupation is celebrated. Every five years Bevrijdingsdag is an official public holiday.



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Bible Museum

Housed in two splendid 17th century Vingboons' houses, the Bijbelsmuseum collection includes all sorts of religious artifacts, including the 1477 Delft Bible, the first to be printed in the Netherlands.

website



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Bijenkorf

Amsterdam's smartest proper department store. The house brand basics are pretty good value for money. Around Christmas, the top floor is dedicated to decorations - avoid or you'll splurge.

Dam Square

www.bijenkorf.nl (Dutch only, but its easy to online shop)



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Bijlmermeer

Also known as ZuidOost, this massive project on the outskirts of Amsterdam proper was built in the 1970s as a new, swanky suburb.

It quickly became the city's first real ghetto, famous for its high crime rate, junkies and problem families. Efforts are now being made to spruce it up, demolish some of the massive gallery flats and replace them with smaller developments of family homes.

For the wikipedia entry, click here

The Bijlmeer is also home to the Heineken Music Hall - a great place to see bands, and the Amsterdam Arena stadium, which calls itself the ArenA.



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Bijlmerramp

The name given to Holland's worst air disaster. On October 4, 1992, early on a Sunday evening, an El Al Boeing 747 cargo plane ploughed into an apartment block in Amsterdams Bijlmermeer suburb, killing 42 people.



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Bikes

No hills and cycle lanes everywhere mean bikes are the only way to get around Amsterdam unless there is a thick layer of snow, in which case everything grinds to a halt anyway. But unless you are used to cycling in your own town, don't try it here. Dutch cyclists make up their own rules of the road. There are lots of bike rental places in town, but I'm not going to tell you where. Tourists wobbling about on rented bikes heading three abreast the wrong way up a cycle track are among the Amsterdammer's biggest bugbears.



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Birthdays

Okay, there are few rules how to deal with Dutch birthdays.

1.If invited to a Dutch birthday party, do not expect wild dancing to dawn. It usually means sitting in a big circle of chairs, drinking coffee and eating a piece of cake. The wine might come out later. As guests arrive, they shake hands with everyone sitting down. If there is a shortage of chairs, the circle will be expanded. On no account should you attempt to form smaller groups.

2. If it is your birthday, you are expected to take in cake for your entire department. Your colleagues will not give you presents. They will all shake your hand or kiss you and have a polite chat. If you are not working, you will be expected to have the neighbours and your partner's family round for coffee and cake. Don't forget to put the chairs in a nice ring.

3. If it is your partner or child's birthday, you must congratulate everyone else in the family. This might sound odd. It goes like this. It is your husband's birthday. You invite his mother for coffee and cake. She says to you "Congratulations on Fred's birthday", you say to her: "Congratulations on your son's birthday". You congratulate Fred's sister on her brother's birthday and so on. Seriously. You do.

My birthday falls in the middle of the summer holidays so I never have to celebrate it here, thank god.



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Blaawbrug

The Blaauwbrug (Blue Bridge) is thought to have got its name from the colour of the original wooden bridge which crossed the Amstel river to link the medieval city to the new suburbs over 400 years ago. Its been rebuilt and altered many times over the centuries - this one dates from 1883 when the World Exhibition took place in Amsterdam. The city fathers decided the current wooden structure, a swing bridge like the Magere Brug further downstream, was not suitable for the tens of thousands of expected visitors and horse drawn trams.

Continue reading....


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Bloemencorso

Usually the first Saturday in September. It brings the traffic to a standstill, but its worth having a look at the hundreds of flower-laden floats on their way from Aaslmeer, centre of the flower trade, to the city centre.

However, in 2007 the organisers announced the last Bloemencorso had been held because of the lack of sponsors.

The bulb growing area runs a flower parade from Noordwijk to Haarlem in late April.



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Bloemenmarkt

The city council has recently made a big effort to get the alleged flower stalls on the Bloemenmarkt (flower market) to sell more flower and less made in Taiwan tourist tat. There has been some improvement.The best stalls for flowers are the two at either end. Beware of bargain bunches of tulips. They often wilt very quickly. My mother in law keeps them wrapped up and plunges them into cold water for a couple of hours. To stop them growing too long and spindly in the vase, she sticks a pin through the stalk just below the bloom.



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Bloemgracht

Although it became known as the Herengracht (gentlemans canal) of the Jordaan, the Bloemgracht was not always as quiet and flower filled as it is today. When the rich merchants began moving into their mansions on the canal ring, they were concerned to have the best possible environment. As a result industry which made a lot of noise or noxious fumes was removed to other parts of the city. Tanners were moved to the area around the Looiersgracht and Elandsgracht and in 1625 paint factories were moved to the Bloemgracht, where they were allowed to pollute the canal water at will. The street is still home to one verfmaker (paint maker) today.

The three fine houses at Bloemgracht 87 to 91 date from 1642 and are built in the traditional "burger" style of the period with stepped gables and strong use of glass. The three wall plaques represent the townsman, the countryman and the seaman -- the former house names until numbering was introduced in the 19th century.



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Boats

The Dutch love boats, Amsterdammers love motoring through the canals on a warm summer evening with a bottle of wine, lapping up all that tourist envy. According to watersports promoter Hiswa, the Netherlands has 700,000 surfboards, blow-up boats and rowing boats; 106,000 canoes and competition rowing boats, 84,000 motor boats, 72,800 sailing boats and 56,000 of those very fabulous open motor boats for cruising around in. All of them seem to be in Amsterdam on Koningingendag and for the Prinsengracht concerts.

Rent one with or without a skipper, from five to 25 people.



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Books

Amsterdam has two book shop institutions: Atheneum and De Slegte. Atheneum is your intellectual paradise, with a big section of foreign language books as well all the Dutch novels. I was last in there trying to buy a French novel for my French night school teacher and found myself in the middle of a reading by various faces I recognised from the Volkskrant literary supplement. A bit scary for someone who prefers krimis

De Slegte is for bargain hunters. It has a massive second hand section, making it a brouwser's paradise. A good place to sell your old books, as long as they are very old or very in demand.

For English-language books you have the long-established American Book Center, Waterstones and the English Bookshop. Plus, if we are going second-hand, the Book Exchange.

The American Book Center is more of a portal than a bookshop with a thriving web community. Waterstones only seems to sell three for the price of two books at the moment but if you want to feel at home, most of the staff seem to be Anglo/Dutchies. The English Bookshop says its goes for "good literature not bestsellers" and has a very cosy feel to it.

American Book Center
Spui 12
www.abc.nl

Waterstones
Kalverstraat 152

De Slegte:
Kalverstraat 48
www.deslegte.com

English Book Shop
Lauriergracht 71

Athenaeum
Spui 14
www.athenaeum.nl

Book Exchange
Klovenierburgwal 58



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Boom Chicago

Rather disgraceful to admit in all my years here I have never been to a Boom Chicago show. People who have tell me it is well worth it. This is what their website says:

Boom Chicago is an Amsterdam institution. For twelve years, we've mixed good writing, quick thinking and high production values to create sharp, funny shows. We tour the country -- and the world -- performing at theaters, festivals and corporate events.

Most people see us in Amsterdam at the 300-seat Leidseplein Theater, where we perform almost every night. The audience is seated around tables, and people eat and drink as well. Our menu changes with the seasons, and we serve great drinks and cocktails

website



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Brad Pitt

There have been wild rumours for years that Brad Pitt bought a house in the Jordaan when he was married to Jennifer Anniston - in the same block as footballer Patrick Kluivert. All nonsense apparently. He is occasionally 'spotted' hanging out in coffee shops, though it always seems to be a friend of a friend who saw him.



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Brakke Grond

Flemish cultural centre, housed in what was once a 16th century cloister. The Brakke Grond means 'brackish soil' - harking back to the days this part of town was a swamp.

Website in Dutch, well Flemish, only



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Breitner

042107-breitner.jpg

George Hendrick Breitner (1857-1923) was a Dutch painter and later a photographer, known for his Amsterdam street scenes. He once apparently said Van Gogh made art for eskimos. He's fab. In early 2007, a painting of the Rokin sold for €547.200 at a Christie's auction, a record for a Breitner street scene.

wikipedia has a lot about him



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British Consulate

I've nicked this information from the website: I have to say that in all my dealings with the consulate they have been absolutely wonderful. Like when I could not find my passport on Christmas Eve when my plane to the UK was due to leave in two hours.....

British Consulate-General:

Visiting address: Koningslaan 44
Postal address: PO Box 75488, 1070 AL AMSTERDAM
Telephone: +31 (0)20 676 4343

Visitors to the Consulate are advised not to bring any baggage. All baggage will be searched. At busy times, those with baggage may be asked to wait until the end of the queue to avoid delays for others. Please do not leave your personal belongings unattended at any time. Please note that firearms, knives, sharp objects, and all electrical devices, including laptops, mobile phones and cameras are strictly prohibited inside the Consulate-General. You will not be allowed entry into the Consulate if carrying these kind of items. We regret that we have no storage facility to hold your laptop, mobile phone, camera, or any other personal item, for you during your visit to the Consulate.


Visa Services:
Visiting hours for visa applications: by appointment only
Fax: +31 (0)20 676 1069
E-mail: visa enquiries


Passport & Consular Services:
Visiting hours: Monday to Friday 0900 - 1200 & 1400 - 1530
Telephone enquiries: Monday to Thursday 0900 – 1200 & 1400 – 1700
Friday 0900 - 1200 & 1400 - 1630
Fax: +31 (0)20 675 8381
E-mail: passport enquiries
other consular enquiries


Duty Officer:
The Duty Officer is available outside normal working hours for emergency services to British Nationals only. All routine consular enquiries should be made during normal office hours to +31 (0)20 676 4343.



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British food

Lin at the British General Stores has pickles, tea, mustard, sweets, salt and vinegar crisps and a well stocked freezer. If you are lucky, she has Linda McCartney veggie sausages in house. And her prices are the best in town

1e C Huygensstr 94

www.britishstore.nl



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Brouwersgracht

Brouwersgracht (brewers canal) takes its name from the number of breweries located along it in the 17th and 18th centuries. Decent sized flats on the Brouwersgracht will cost you upwards of €500,000. If I had the cash, this is where I would live.

Continue reading....


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Bulldog

An institution and all very respectable. A dope café since 1975, the Bulldog empire now stretches to hotels, energy drinks and god knows what else. The hotel apparently offers 'compressed plant resins and vegetable matter from all over the planet'. Ha ha.

website

However, the reviewers on channel.nl are not exactly enthusiastic.



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Burqa

Or however you spell it. The silly Dutch cabinet got a lot of publicity in October 2005 when the evil witch of an 'integration minister' Rita Verdonk said she wanted to ban the burqa on security grounds. Then the issue blew up again at the end of 2006. There is no burqa ban in the Netherlands at the time of writing (January 2008) but the cabinet plans to introduce a ban on the burqa on public transport, for the civil service and in schools - on security grounds.

In my 20 odd years in Amsterdam, I have never seen one. If you do, it is probably being worn by an uncover journalist writing an expose of how horrid everyone is to burqa-wearers. Or a friend of Amsterdam's home grown terrorist group who is avoiding being photographed.

Experts, who ever they are, say there are around 100 burqa wearers in the country. Probably all in Rotterdam.



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COC

The Coc says it is the oldest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organisation in the world. A political lobbying and educational institution.

The name does not come from anything sexual, but from Cultuur en Ontspannings-Centrum, or Centre for Culture and Leisure, the pseudonym the organisation initially adopted after its foundation in 1946.

Rozenstraat 8
website



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Camping

Amsterdam has several campsites. One is in the Amsterdamse Bos under the Schiphol flight path. You can find all the details on the Amsterdam Info website.

http://www.amsterdam.info/camping/



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Canals

People say the canals make Amsterdam the Venice of the North - without the pigeons and the Italians, of course. The big four are the Prinsengracht, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Singel. The main canals bisecting these four are the Brouwersgracht, the Bloemgracht, the Leliegracht, Leidsegracht and the Reguliersgracht. Others were filled in. If you see the word gracht on a street name, it was once water.

For all the tourist clichés, a canal boat tour is a really good way to see the city, if you can ignore the prerecorded commentary which will blast out in German even if there are no Germans on board. You can pick up a boat trip all over the city centre. They all follow much the same route.



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Carnival

End February. Horrible. Never used to be celebrated (if that is the right word) in the protestant North, but has been creeping in a bit. Go south to Limburg if you want to see the Dutch at their worst. Drunk for days on end, singing stupid oompah songs and wearing daft costumes. Nothing like Rio.



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Carré

I haven't been in the Carré since it was reopened after a major overhaul in 2004-05. Built as a permanent circus, it is the place to go and see musicals and big shows. Some of the tiered seating on the upper levels is terribly steep - not good if you have vertigo!

Amstel 115-125

website

Continue reading....


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Cash dispensers, ATMs

Known as pinautomaat in Dutch. Tend to run out on public holidays.
All cash dispensers take all cards but charge to take money out on a credit card.



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Castle Heeren van Amstel

City archaeologists suspect that the old walls they keep turning up during excavations around the Nieuwezijds Kolk are the remains of a 13th century castle, possibly that of Gijsbrecht van Aemstel, Amsterdam's founding father. It is true the finds are the oldest ever made in the city, and that the building was definitely a defensive work with corner towers, but was it Gijsbrecht's? Opinion is very divided. You can see some of the walls in the Kolk car park.



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Celebrities

Of course, Amsterdam has its own home-grown celebs. They compete to feature in the gossip rags Privé, Weekend and Story. All the royals are popular of course, followed by (in no particular order) Estelle Gullit (footballers' wife extraordinaire), Rachel Hazes (widow of torch singer André Hazes), Katja Schuurman (actress and ex soap star), Paul de Leeuw (fat, gay tv host), Vanessa (ex pop star and plastic surgery queen), Patty Brard, (ex pop starlet turned reality tv nightmare), oh yes, we have soapies, pop starlets and footballers galore...... See also BN'ers.



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Central Station

Arriving back in Amsterdam by train still awakes in me everything I felt about the city when I first came here - even though the city seems to have doubled in size since then. One the one side, the gabled warehouses, on the other, the IJ. Ah, but then you leave the station and hit the hideous Damrak and all the romance disappears.

All sorts of developments are currently ongoing round the station - including the building of a new metro line. The river frontage is being converted into a proper boulevard (so they say). Just keep an eye on your pockets and bags and ignore everyone who offers you anything. Despite police efforts to get rid of the crap and the junkies, they still lurk.

Holland has a great policy of trying to phase out human beings when it comes to selling train tickets, so there are ticket machines all over the place. Some take direct debit cards, some take credit cards. None take both. And at the time of writing (May 2008) if you want to buy a ticket with cash (how old-fashioned) you will have to head into the Hispeed (pronounced high speed) centre and queue up. So add some extra time.

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Cheese

Don't waste your time on a tourist trip to a ha ha cheese farm. Most Dutch cheese is a factory product.

Amsterdam has its own cheese, Oude Amsterdam, which has a black wax coating and is nice and salty. Most specialist cheese shops will sell it. Ask for a taste before you buy.

Wout Arxhoek on Damstraat 19 is a good Dutch cheese shop - bit touristy in approach but a good choice.

Abraham Kef on Marnixstraat 192 is famous for his French cheese.

And the Saturday organic market on the Noordermarkt is the place to buy organic cheese - especially tiny hand-made goats cheeses.



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Christmas

When I first came here 25 years ago, the Dutch did not really celebrate Christmas. It was a time to eat roast hare with the family and that was that. Now you can hardly move for the reindeer with flashing antlers and wind up Santas. The present thing has caught on a bit, but not much. So if you are invited out for Christmas dinner, you don't need to take a present for everyone and you won't be expected to eat cold sprouts at 3pm.



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Church bells, carillons

The bells, the bells. At the end of 2006 there was a campaign by some bright sparks on the city council - Centrum borough council to be precise - who thought the Westerkerk bells should be silenced at night because tourists and new residents were complaining about the noise. This suggestion was treated with the contempt it deserved.

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City council shareholdings

Amsterdam city council is rich. Newspaper Het Parool reported in February 2006 that it has shares in a number of rather useful companies.

Nuon (power) 9%, dividend in 2006, €29m
Schiphol (airport) 22%, dividend in 2006 €12m
Verzekeringsbedrijf Groot Amsterdam (insurance) 100%, dividend €2.4mn
Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten (bank), 2%, dividend €800,000.
GVB (public transport), 100%, dividend €4.3m
Havengebouw (port buildings), 51%, dividend €200,000.
RAI (exhibition and congress centre), 25% dividend €200,000
Stadsherstel (property rennovation), 13%, dividend €400,000.

The city also owns chunks of the Carré theatre, the Doelen Hotel and the Arena stadium



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City farms - kinderboederij

Amsterdam has a sprinkling of these mini-farms, complete with goats, usually a pig and some oversized rabbits. The nicest location - with a traditional farmhouse - is at the far side of Westerpark.

Kibowesterpark

Out in the Amsterdamse Bos (woods) is the goat farm - a staple Sunday excursion for Amsterdam families with smaller children. You can buy little bottles of milk to feed the kids, and then eat goat's milk ice-cream (all organic of course).

Nieuwe Meerlaan 4

www.geitenboerderij.nl



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Claes Claeszhofje

The Claes Claesz. hofje is a complex of several hofjes. The "house with the writing hand" was - appropriately enough - lived in by the satirical cartoonist Opland.

1e Eglantiersdwaarstraat

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Clamping

The city council website's section on cars opens with the question 'do you really want to bring your car to Amsterdam'. Its a good question.

The website also has a good map of what parking costs - its a matter for the borough councils to decide.

If you get clamped, this is the number to ring: (020) 251 22 22 - they say its manned 24 hours a day. Someone from Stadstoezicht will come and unclamp you. You can pay with credit or pincards. If you want to pay cash, you have to go to a Pay and Go office. Ask where the nearest is when you ring. It will cost you at least €103.60. They only clamp in the city centre and are planning to phase it out altogether because it is so tourist-unfriendly.

If your car has disappeared, it might have been towed away. To find out, ring the council information number Antwoord 14 020 between 08.00 - 18.00 uur. If it is after 6pm, ring 020 251 2222.

If you have been towed away, your car will be on the Daniël Goedkoopstraat 7 which is open 24/7. Metro 53, 54 and fast tram 51, get out at Spaklerweg/OverAmstel.



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Clogs

Okay, lets go for the cliches. Some people really do still wear wooden clogs; namely farmers and labourers. What could be better? They protect your feet against falling bricks and cows, and you can slip them off easily when you go inside. They do, apparently, meet proper EU safety standards. Dutch clogs are usually made of willow.

Here is how they are made

And you can buy them here on the Nieuwe Hoogstraat: 't Klompemhuisje



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Clubbing

I'll leave this to the experts.

There are masses of sites telling you what is hot and what is not. I'll put something together eventually. Old folk like me - ha ha - go to Panama and the Sugar Factory and the Melkweg over-40s nights.

For a list of clubbing websites, check the top right hand corner of AmsterdamDJs

For a list of club links, click here

Clubbing in Amsterdam tends to mean going out at midnight and falling into bed in the early hours after an afterparty.



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Coffee shop

Not the place for a quiet cappuchino and a biscuit. Coffeeshop is the euphemism for a place where you can buy hashish and cannabis over the counter. Amsterdam has hundreds, but the regulations have been tightened up in recent years. And any whisper of hard drugs under the counter and the place will be boarded up.

Coffeeshop etiquette? Haven't got a clue these days. You can spot them by the green and white sign discreetly displayed on the door or window - this is the official Amsterdam city council licence. Most city centre coffeeshops are full of tourists - the liberal attitude to drugs is a major tourist draw, even if the tourist board likes to pretend everyone comes here for art.

I'll leave this to the website of an expert. It also has information about smart shops and head shops. Love the jargon.



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Concertgebouw

The city's finest concert hall and home of the highly respected Concertgebouw orchestra. If you are going to a concert, go by public transport or taxi if you can bear it. You've a choice of trams 2, 3, 5, 12, 16 and 24 and bus 170. There is a taxi rank outside.

Concertgebouwplein 2-6

website

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Concertgebouwbuurt

One of the poshest parts of the city to live. The area behind the Concertgebouw concert hall was developed around the turn of the century. The houses are bigger, the streets wider and the schools whiter that the rest of the city. Many of the streets are named after intellectuals, artists, writers and academics - the intellectual trader Roemer Visscher and his equally academic daughter Tesselschade, the writer Joost van den Vondel (who gave his name to the city's biggest park), the professor Caspar van Baerle and so on.

Much of the land around the Vondelpark was originally owned by the park committee, who sold it off with the provision it be used for expensive housing and that no working-class house or factory could be built on it. Say no more. The area where P.C. Hooftstraat, now an exclusive shopping street, has been built was sold this way for 78,078 guilders.

Many of the grand villas around the park have now been converted into offices and embassies. You can spot the British consulate at Koningslaan 44 by the police hut and the hideous security fencing.



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Condomerie

The world's first specialised condom shop. Everything you ever wanted to know about condoms... great website too, packed with information.

wwww.condomerie.com



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Cornelis Lely

Helped make the geographical Netherlands what it is today. A civil engineer and statesman (1854-1929) who was responsible for closing off the Zuiderzee with the Afsluitdijk in the north and draining some of its polders. Lelystad on the Flevopolder was named after him.



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Creationism

One in four Dutch people apparently believe that god created animals and just over 50% believe in evolution. Luckily, most of them live in the Bible belt an good hours drive south of the city. Mind you, Amsterdam does now have its very own fundamentalist protestant school De Passie, which teaches creationism as fact and evolution as a leading scientific theory. Scary.



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Credit cards

Most shops now require additional id before they will accept a credit card, but lots of places won't accept them at all. If you spend under a certain amount, you may be charged to use your credit card. Mastercard and Visa are the most widely accepted.

If you are eating out, it would be wise to check first. You would not be the first to be caught in an embarassing situation.



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Crime

It's a safe city on the whole. I once had my bag snatched out of my bike basket by what I thought was a respectable man in his 40s who was looking for directions. And I've had various bikes nicked and people are always breaking into our car and trying to steal it. It's an old and dirty Alpha Romeo, we can't imagine what anyone sees in it.

On the statistics front, here are stats from 2006

Amsterdam has also been home to a number of gangland killings in recent years. Most of these have taken place in the posher suburbs - like the Buitenveldert shopping centre and on the Apollolaan in Zuid. Bad for property prices.



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Cycling

See bikes



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Dam Square

It would be pretty logical to expect Dam square to be the location of the dam over the Amstel river which gave the city its name over 800 years ago - but the experts say it probably wasn't.

The Dam was refurbished at vast expense a few years ago, a process which included covering the entire area in impossbile-to-cycle-over cobbles. If it was Paris or Brussels, the city council would have banned cars and trams and opened up the Dam to cafe terraces and street entertainment. But, this is Amsterdam, so they end up pleasing no-one.

The one redeming feature is the Nationaal Monument, a memorial to all the Dutch who died during WWII. It becomes a focal point for remembering the dead (Dodenherdenking) on May 4 every year. Unveiled in 1956 the 22 metre obelisk was designed by J.J.P. Oud and is decorated with sculpted figures.

The two lions fronting the memorial are national symbols and imbedded in the wall behind are urns containing earth from each Dutch province and the colonies of Indonesia, Antillies and Surinam. The Latin text reads "Here where the heart of the Fatherland lies may the memorial, that citizens carry in their deepest hearts, look up to the stars of God."



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Dam tot damloop

A 10 mile run, from the centre of Amsterdam to the centre of Zaandam, including a run through the IJ tunnel. It is 10 miles, not kilometres, but miles. Why? Because that appears to be a nice easy distance - 16 km for the more modern among us.

Takes place in September, with some 30,000 runners. Has a tradition of corporate teams raising money for charity.

There is also a mini Dam totdam for kids.

website Check the left-hand column for an English link.



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De Balie

Financially troubled meeting centre, cinema, theatre and café for leftie intellectuals. Famous for its public debates. De Balie is housed in an old district court complex next to a former prison. The colonnade linking the two (1991) bears the motto Homo Sapiens Non Urinat in Ventum (don't pee into the wind). Bizarre.

Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 10
Website (Dutch only - and really rather a crap website)



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De Burcht, Trade Union musuem

One of the few museums I have never been to. Am told the building is fab. Also stages cultural events.

Henri Polaklaan 9

website Dutch only



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De Nieuwe Kerk

Second oldest church in the city - hence its name. Stages grand and v. expensive exhibitions.

Dam

website



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De Star Hofje - and Zons Hofje

My favourite hofje. A wild garden full of flowers and a splendid laburnam tree. De Star hofje, also known as the Hofje van Brienen, is like a traditional country garden and was built in 1803-04 by Arnout Jan van Brienen, the Star hofje occupies the site of the Star brewery, which van Brienen bought in 1797. The story goes that van Brienen, accidently locked in his vault, set up the foundation to build the hofje out of gratitude for his release.

Prinsengracht 89-133

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Debt

Is it a coincidence that the Dutch word for debt - schuld - is the same word for guilty? It all comes from the Dutch being of good Calvinist stock.

The average Dutch household had debts of €30,000 in 2007, almost double the figure five years ago, according to a DutchNews.nl report.



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Diamonds

Amsterdam likes to call itself a city of diamonds but it is a pretty tenous link. Diamond cutting thrived in the 19th century, when stones were imported from South Africa but today the diamond tours you can go on are little more than excuses to sell. Coster Diamonds, founded in 1840, was charged with repolishing the 108.8 carat Koh I Noor diamond by Britain's Prince Albert and there is a replica in the entrance Hall. Gassan Diamonds is in a rather wonderful building with two synagogues in the yard - diamond cutting was one of the few trades open to the Jews.

Nieuwe Uilenburgerstraat 173 - 175

website



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Docklands

The eastern docklands have been completely transformed in recent years - demolished, cleaned up and rebuilt. Once the old warehouses were full of die-hard squatters and artists, now its all modern buildings and a hip design boulevard (so they say).

The dockland area is made up of the old kades (quaysides) and the KNSM and Java island.

The KNSM island has its own (Dutch) website. Java island (a continuation of the KNSM island) is developing one.

On the website of art historian Kees Kaldenbach - who does organised walks - you can see before and after pictures of the island.

I need to get out and research this part of town some more. In the meantime, here is a pretty decent article.



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Dogs

Dog shit - number one irritant. At last people have started picking it up and putting it in bins. Some parts of town (like the Nassaukade water front) have special dog toilets - sand pits - where you have to make your dog do its business. But there are still people who think it is quite okay to let their horrible beast shit next to my front door or in our flower beds. And if you say anything they scream that they have paid their taxes.

The posh dog owners in Zuid are up in arms about plans to ban dogs from most of the Vondel park.



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Droog

Amsterdam-based design collective, although they would not call themselves that. Set up in 1993 and now very big internationally. Big on white.

I want the shadylace parasol

website

For an article about Droog in the US, click here



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Dunglish

'Where Dutch and English collide'. Wicked website of wierd English, plus a useful collection of language links.

www.dunglish.nl



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Dykes

Without the dykes, Amsterdam would be under water. You can trace the dykes surrounding the old city through the street names - Nieuwendijk (new dyke), Zeedijk (sea dyke) and so on.
See also NAP



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Easter

The busiest tourist time in Amsterdam, which is why so many locals go away. Hotels and flights tend to get booked up very early. Avoid if you hate the crowds. Everything is open pretty much as normal apart from on Easter Monday, when most shops are shut. The Dutch have a nice line in Easter-related decorations - swirling nests made from white feathers and eggs covered in pussy-willow catkins. Easter fruit loaf stuffed with almond paste and lambs molded out of butter are traditional food.



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Eetcafé

A cross between a bar and a café, where you can get good cheap steak-and-chips sort of food.



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Elleboog

Circus Elleboog is Amsterdam's children's circus where the kids can go and learn juggling, tightrope walking etc etc. An institution since 1949.

website



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Entrepot dok

The buildings here behind the zoo formed what some say was the greatest warehouse complex in the world during the mid-19th century. The area was establised by the VOC as a 'customs-free' zone for transit goods. The complex has now been turned into chic little flats and offices.



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Expatcenter

A new city council initiative, together with Amstelveen and the IND immigration service. The aim is to speed up the residency process for people coming to the country under the high-skilled migrant's scheme (kenniswerker).

Seems to be working. Located in the World Trade Centre. Has website full of useful information, from when to put out your garbage to becoming Dutch.

website



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Expats

This is not a website for expats. Its a website for Amsterdammers. So you won't find information about work permits, how to get a house and having a baby in Holland. For all your expat affairs check out the experts at:

expatica.com

Access

and the city council's brand new expatcenter



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Februaristaking

February 25. A ceremony to remember the dockworkers strike of February 1941, in protest at the Jewish deportations. The ceremony takes place next to the statue commemorating the strike on the JD Meijerplein.



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Ferries

Behind central station there are several ferries to Noord and to Java island. They take bikes and people are free. A v. easy way for a quick river cruise at sunset.

The council is always threatening to close down the longer routes, saying they make a loss. They probably do. But if your city is split in two, you need all the connections you can get.

Bus company Connexxion also runs a fast ferry service to Velsen, close to IJmuiden, which is a good way of cruising along the North Sea canal. If you want to use it to get to the beach, get there early so you can take your bike - it has limited bike places. Otherwise you need to take a bus... the stop is outside the ferry port.

View image



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Film

To book online: Filmladder in Dutch but pretty easy to use.



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Filmmuseum

The Vondelpark pavillion is home to the national Film museum with its collection of 46,000 film titles, 35,000 posters and 450,000 photographs. The complete art deco interior of the former Amsterdam cinema Parisien has even been moved into one of the rooms.

The museum shows more than 1,000 films a year ranging from silent classics to rare prints. Weather permitting, there are outdoor screenings in the summer.

The museum's Vertigo café is still a good place for a sundowner, but very popular on balmy summer evenings so you'll need to fight for a seat.

website



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Foxes

Urban foxes have been spotted rummaging through the rubbish in Westerpark. They apparently follow the railway line up from Halfweg.



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Gable stones

The Dutch tourist board website informs me that Amsterdam has 654 gable stones. You can spot most of them in the Jordaan. The stones were used to identify houses before numbering came in, and they often reflected the owner's occupation.



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Gebed zonder end

Prayer without End is a narrow alley in the heart of the old town. Story goes that it took its name from the number of convents located here in the 15th and 16th centuries. But on a 17th century map it was called the St Clarendwarstraat, so who knows?



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Gedogen or turning a blind eye

The official policy of gedogen - roughly translated as ignoring anything which isn't convenient - has made Amsterdam what it is today. Gedogen is "the supreme manifestation of the Netherlands' traditional tolerance of everything from religion and race to sex and drugs".

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Girl with a pearl earring, Johannes Vermeer

Not at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam but at the Mauritshuis in The Hague. The Mauritshuis warns you should check before making the journey to see it in case it is on loan. Very fab museum, the Mauritshuis, by the way, on the edge of the Binnenhof parliamentary complex.

Mauritshuis



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Golden Bend

The canal boat tour operators call the stretch of Herengracht from the Leidsegracht to the Vijzelstraat the Golden Bend because of all its grand houses - built by merchants in the 17th century.

However, no local would call it that, and most of the stone frontages were added on at a later period, in line with fashions of the day.

Most of the biggest buildings are now banks and other offices. They are grand, but a bit dull.



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Gonny Oudenallen

Founder of local political party Mokum Mobiel (Amsterdam on the move) with one seat on the city council. Fell foul of the city council auditors when it emerged her party could not account for its spending and had awarded rather large sums of money to an advice bureau that she owned to advise her on policy. Oops

Lost her seat in the last local elections, then went on to run for parliament for loony right party LPF. Lost that job too at the last election and now enjoys the generous unemployment benefit package for former MPs.



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Greenpeace building

Everyone still calls it the Greenpeace building, but the environmental group has since moved to a new complex in the eastern docks - not quite as expensive to heat and maintain. Keizersgracht 174, designed by Gerrit van Arkel and built in 1905 is a fine example of Art Nouveau, Amsterdam-style. It is 37 metres high and was the tallest building in the city when it was built.



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Groenburgwal and Grimburgwal

Two of my favourite canals. The Grimburgwal apparently takes its name from the Grim, or 'muddy ditch' which used to mark the southern edge of Amsterdam in the 14th century. The Groenburgwal takes its name from the fact green dye and paint makers used to be concentrated here. They are both very pretty, tree lined canals today.



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Haarlemerpoort

There has been a defended gateway into Amsterdam in this area since 1481 but the current Haarlemerpoort is the third to be built. The neo-classical building, dates from 1840 and has never had a defensive function, but was used as tax offices. Squatted in the 1970s it has now been converted into flats.

Always a busy traffic junction, the Haarlemmerpoort still marks the beginning of the road to Haarlem. Even in 1785 there were hourly departures of horse-drawn barges (trekschuiten) travelling between the two cities. Now the city council keeps coming up with grand plans to build multiplex cinemas and the like on the square behind the gateway, but nothing ever happens.



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Haarlemmerstraat

Used to be a bit of a don't-bother-to-go rather than a no-go zone but the Haarlemmerstraat has blossomed into a fabulous shopping street. Lots of small, independent shops rather than all the same tedious high-street names. And not just clothes and shoes but foodie emporiums and things, as Edina would say. Lots of lunch stop-off points as well. Definitely worth the stroll.



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Hans Brinker

The little boy who stuck his finger in the dyke to stop the Netherlands from flooding was invented by American writer Mary Mapes Dodge. Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates was published in 1865.

It's also the name of a budget hotel on Amsterdam's Kerkstraat. Tel: 020-6220687. website



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Hans Dulfer, Candy Dulfer

Sax player extraordinaire. An institution.
website

Daughter Candy is also a sax player - she was the soloist on Dave Stewart's Lily was Here.



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Hartjesdag

A old cross-dressing folk festival which had died out and now takes place again in August. Hartjesdag has its origins in the Middle Ages but was banned under German occupation in World War II. In 1997 locals on the Zeedijk decided to revive it. Any excuse to put on a frock. The link has photos from 2005.

Official website Dutch only



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Hash museum

If you must. Actually the history stuff is pretty interesting and it is seriously presented. And if you want to see real live marijuana plants, there is an indoor garden.

148 Oudezijds Achterburgwal

The website has a well-used weed-lovers forum



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Hema

A sort of cheaper and more design-aware M&S. Hema is a Dutch institution. The first branch was opened in 1926 under the name Hollandsche Eenheidsprijzen Maatschappij Amsterdam (Dutch uniform price society Amsterdam). It is now the place to go to buy cheap and cheerful home furnishings, clothes, crockery and smoked sausages. Candles in mad colours. Haberdashery (about the only place left where you can buy needles and thread). Bike tyres. Reading glasses. An eclectic mix. You can find them all over town.

Kalverstraat 208 (Fotoshop)
Osdorpplein 626
Nieuwendijk 174-176
Ferdinand Bolstraat 93-93A
Kalvertoren Kalverstraat 212
Slotermeer Winkelcentrum 40-45
Linnaeusstraat 245
Kinkerstraat 313
Gelderlandplein 54-56
Buikslotermeerplein 197
Winkelcentrum Amsterdamse Poort - Bijlmerplein 355

www.hema.nl



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Hendrick Berlage

Architect 1856-1934. Most famous for his stock exchange and Plan Zuid for the south of the city.


see wikipedia for more



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Hendrick de Keyser

Architect 1565-1621. The Zuiderkerk and Westerkerk are among his buildings. Also worked with Inigo Jones in Britain.

More on wikipedia



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Herdenkingsdag

May 4, the day the Dutch remember their dead. The main wreath-laying ceremony is on the Dam.



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Herengracht

herengracht%20475.jpg
Herengracht 475, photo from Amsterdam Heritage

Means 'the gentleman's canal'. One of the main canal rings which go round the city centre. Full of splendid canal houses, though most now are banks and offices. Number 475 is considered to be a very fine example of the Louis XIV style, built in the 18th century, with a monumental sandstone facade.



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Hermitage

End 2008, the Amstelhof, overlooking the Amstel river, will have been turned into an extension of St Petersburg's Hermitage. Its a wonderful plan. The Amstelhof was built in 1681 as a home for elderly women and a few years later, for men. It was a nursing home ever since. It's a pretty sober building despite its river-frontage - at 31 windows wide, the longest river front in the city.

website

Continue reading....


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Het Huis met de Hoofden

Keizersgracht 123, former home of Monumentenzorg, the organisation in charge of taking care of Amsterdam's thousands of officially recognised monuments, has been bought from the city council by art collector Joost Ritman for 'secret' amount of money, reports the Parool. Ritman started his Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in 1957, which now runs to 20,000 books and texts. He plans to use the building to state exhibitions and congresses.

Continue reading....


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Hilton

Amsterdam's Hilton Hotel is where John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged their eight day 'bed in' for peace in 1969. You can still stay in the room. It's also where Dutch rocker, artist and junkie Herman Brood jumped off the roof to kill himself in July 2001.



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Hockey

The other Dutch national sport. Well, the Dutch do rather better at hockey than at football. The capital has three main clubs; Amsterdam, Pinoké and Hurley.

Pinoké has a reputation for being the most fun of the three and Amsterdam is the snottiest. The third is Hurley. All three are located next to each other in the Amsterdam bos.

Now that the rights to broadcast top level football have been bought by a commercial broadcaster, the public channels have upped their hockey coverage which is forcing the clubs to become more professional.

More and more foreign players are being bought in as coaches and the like - in reality they are here to play for the top mens' teams. All three clubs have big youth sections. Pinoke, for example has 68 youth teams!

Three smaller Amsterdam clubs are: Athena in Watergraafsmeer (new and only has a youth section), FIT in Noord and Xenios next to the windmill by Badhoevendorp. There are several clubs in Amstelveen as well (Myra, Amstelveen).

www.knhb.nl the national hockey association, Dutch only



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Hofjes

Amsterdam's many hofjes - or almshouses - were mostly built by wealthy merchants and benefactors in the 17th and 18th centuries to offer cheap or free housing to underprivileged groups, usually poor and elderly widows. There are lots in the Jordaan although there are others sprinkled throughout the city and along the Amstel river. Today they are mostly run by foundations, and still offer cheap accomodation.

It is up to the residents to decide whether or not to leave the door open and allow the casual visitor a look inside. If you can go in, you should enter only two or three at a time and respect the quietness and privacy of those living there. I've put some of those which are open or semi-open to the public as separate listings.

You can find photos of hofjes on the Jordaan web under 'courtyards'.



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Holiday homes

Apartments for rent Amsterdam has very flash pads in the city centre for short term lets. Expensive but good personal service. They'll also help you buy a house as well.



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Holland Festival

June: a month long theatre festival featuring largely new performances.

The website has all the details. Click on the Union Jack badge for English



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Homo (Gay) monument


A large triangle of pink polished granite - made up of three smaller triangles - this monument in front of the Westerkerk (and jutting out into the Keizersgracht) was unveiled in 1987. It is often forgotten, but Amsterdam's gay population was also deported to the concentration camps during World War II as well as its Jews. Next to the monument is a little kiosk selling gay souvenirs, whatever they are, and handing out information.



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Horse riding

Amsterdam has a wonderful (so I am told by horsey people) riding school in the Hollandse Manege. The building is based on the famous Vienna riding school.

There are 153 stalls and boxes, originally supplied by the St Pancras Iron Works co, with dark wooden dividing walls and blue and white tiles on the back walls. As at any riding school, a handful of teenaged girls are always there tacking-up. On the first floor is a restaurant.

Threatened with demolition in the 1980s the building was saved by public outcry. In 1986 it was reopened by Prince Bernhard and restored to its former glory. The horse trail in the Vondel park is still in use. I don't know if you can just turn up and borrow a horse, but you can always try.

Vondelstraat 140, website (Dutch only)



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Hortus botanical gardens

hortus%20botanical%20gardens%20amsterdam.jpg

One of the oldest botanical gardens in the world with some 6,000 plants and wonderful greenhouses - especially the one which moves from sub-tropical to desert to tropical rain forest. Nice cafe in the orangery

Plantage Middenlaan 2a
website



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Hotels

Amsterdam has 38,200 hotel beds, apparently. There are loads of hotel booking sites, so take your pick. Go for somewhere on the canals if you can and reckon on paying at least 80 euros a night for a room.

If you are looking for cheap and cheerful and you don't mind church bells:

Hotel Van Onna
Bloemgracht 102-108
Tel: 020 626 5801


Smaller, more upmarket and highly recommended

't Hotel
Leliegracht 18
020 - 4222741



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Houseboats

A charming, if cramped place to live. And not as cheap as you might think. A boat in decent condition with a good mooring will cost you upwards of 250,000 euros. The city has some 2,400 houseboats spread out in several locations.

Jurjen Heeck's houseboat website has all you could possibly want to know about them.

Amsterdam also has a houseboat museum with the address 'opposite 296' - which is how houseboat addresses are written.



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Humberto Tan

TV sports presenter and best-dressed man with his own clothing line

humberto-tan.jpg



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I amsterdam

I amsterdam is Amsterdam city council's promotional logo.

To quote from the website: ‘I amsterdam is the motto that creates the brand for the city and people of Amsterdam. In saying or expressing I amsterdam, we demonstrate a clear choice for the city of Amsterdam. I amsterdam shows our pride, our confidence and our dedication. I amsterdam is our personal endorsement for our city. Using I amsterdam, we can show clearly and proudly all the many benefits, opportunities and dimensions of excellence that make Amsterdam our city of choice.’'

Okay?

The website has lots of promotional information and puffery about how fabulous the city is to do business in and all the usual stuff about museums and the like. Scheduled for a major overhaul towards the end of 2008.



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IJ

Amsterdam's waterfront, which used to be a lake or bay. And yes, it is IJ not Ij because IJ is sort of the Dutch Y, thus both letters are capitalised. With the creation of new polders, the IJ has become squashed and reduced in size.

One of the best places to appreciate the IJ is to watch the sun go down from the terrace of the new concert hall Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ



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IND immigration service

If you are not an EU national, these guys are going to be very important in your life. If you are, don't be fooled into thinking you need a residency permit. You don't. This is from the IND's document about registration and the EU.

What if I do not register? If you do not register there are no immediate consequences, because according to the EC-treaty, your stay will still be lawful. However, if you do not register this may mean that you will not be able to apply for social security benefits, nor will you be able to apply for student grants or loans.

If you want to know what a 'pronouncement of undesirability' is, click on the website



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ING


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Internet cafés

The Netherlands has, if I remember correctly, more broadband connections than anywhere else in Europe and wifi is everywhere.

But if you need an internet cafe, check out,

The Mad Processor, Kinkerstraat 11-13

There is also, apparently, an internet cafe very close to central station but its website is so irritating, I gave up trying to check it out.

Or try any cheap phone call shop (belwinkel)



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Jacob de Wit

Artist, 1695-1754. Most famous for his black and white tromp d'oeil frescos as seen in the Museum van Loon and various other grand canal houses.



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Jan van Galenstraat

About the most dangerous street in the city if Het Parool newspaper is to be believed. The presence of the Amsterdam Food Center (sic), where the region's caterers and grocers come to buy their products at the crack of dawn, is probably the main reason. All those lorries laden with tomatoes whizzing in and out.

The council has been trying to have the Food Center closed for years. But 70 years of history and 120 companies makes a heavy counterweight. According to the statistics, the Jan van Galenstraat is number one on the list of most dangerous streets in Amsterdam, meaning at least 10 people are killed or seriously injured on it every year. It is also number three on the pollution index.



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Jazz

Lots of choice... at least on the internet, but all comments on this one most welcome

Best known is the Bimhuis

Cafe Alto

't Geveltje

Cafe Kobalt



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Jenever

This comes from DutchNews.nl

Jenever gets protected status

EU agriculture ministers have given jenever (Dutch gin) protected geographic status.

This means the traditional Dutch spirit can only be distilled in the Netherlands and Belgium and in one or two German and French provinces.

Jenever was first made in the Middle Ages. Leiden university professor and chemist Sylvius de Bouve is credited with inventing it, by adding the medicinal juniper berry to distilled alcohol.

Today, the biggest Dutch jenever distilleries are in Schiedam, Amsterdam and Groningen. Jonge (young) jenever is the most popular spirit in the Netherlands - some 170,000 hectolitres were drunk in 2005.

Young jenever takes its name from the fact it uses newer distilling techniques and contains more grain-based alcohol than the traditional malt-based Oude (old) version.

Jenever is the sixth Dutch product to be given EU status, joining the Opperdoezer Ronde (a potato from the West-Friesian region Opperdoes) and four cheeses (Boeren Leidse, Kanter, Noord-Hollandse Edammer and Noord-Hollandse Gouda).

If you want to taste traditional Dutch jenever try:

De Drie Fleschjes
Gravenstraat 18 (behind the Nieuwe Kerk)

The House of Bols - Bols being the maker of all those blue and green spirits which you always seem to need for cocktails - is a 'museum' dedicated to its produce. Entrance fee is a whopping 10 euros, which includes a free cocktail. It opened in 2007. I have not been and doubt I will. It;s like the Coster diamonds diamond museum...leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. The website thoroughly recommends a visit though ha ha.



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Jewish Historical Museum

Definitely worth a visit, for the architecture alone.

J D Meijerplein 204

Very sparky website



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Jews

It is estimated that only 5,000 of Amsterdam's 100,000 Jews survived World War II. The efficiency of the Dutch bureaucratic machine made it easy to find them.

The first Jews to arrive in Amsterdam came from Portugal and Spain from the early 1600s onwards. Even though they were allowed to settle in the city, they could not enter most professions and had to bury their dead outside the city walls. The Beth Haim graveyard in Oudkerk aan de Amstel is full of atmosphere - Spinoza's parents are buried there.

Wikipedia has a list of famous Dutch Jews.

For information about Jewish genealogy in the Netherlands

For Kosher eateries, click here



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Jip & Janneke

Not strictly Amsterdammers, but the adventures of Jip & Janneke have been loved by Amsterdam children for generations. And their author, Annie M G Schmidt did start out as a reporter on Het Parool newspaper. In the 50 years since they were invented, over five million Jip & Janneke books have been sold.

Chainstore Hema has the rights to the snub-nosed silhouette drawings of the duo and it prints them on anything that will appeal to kids, from pencil cases to shampoo.



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Jiri Kylian

Highly respected choreographer with the Nederlands Dans Theater. Born in Prague in 1947.



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Jogging

Lots of joggers head for the Vondelpark, but the Westerpark has fewer people, dogs and bikes.



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John Adams Institute

From its website:

'The John Adams Institute is the center for American culture in Amsterdam. We are an independent, nonprofit foundation dedicated to presenting some of the most compelling speakers in the world to European audiences. From poetry to political debate, film to finance, hyperpower hegemony to hip-hop hype, each of our events lights up a different part of the endlessly complex, constantly shifting cultural landscape of the U.S.A.'



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Jordaan

The warren of tiny streets to the west of the canal rings is known as the Jordaan. The area was the settling ground for the thousands of immigrants who flooded into the city in the 17th century. While the origins of the name are unclear, its is widely believed to be a corruption of Le Jardin, used by the French Hugenot immigrants to describe it.

Continue reading....


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Jugendstil

A style of architecture and decorative art similar to art nouveau, popular in German-speaking areas of Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There is some in Amsterdam, but not much. The name comes from Munich magazine Die Jugend (“Youth”), founded in 1896, which featured Art Nouveau designs. It is primarily a style in architecture characterised by swirling lines, glazed brickwork and ornate tiling. Austrian painter Gustav Klimt is said by some to be Jugenstil.


One link I found said Jugendstil grew out of an innate desire for doodling. I can understand that.

Continue reading....


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KIT Tropenmuseum

Linnaeusstraat 2
www.tropenmuseum.nl



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Kalverstaat

It used to be the cattle market, but now its the main city centre shopping street. All your favourite high street chains. About a million branches of H&M, plus Claudia Sträter, Zara, Mexx, Esprit, Sissy Boy, WE, Footlocker, Levi's store, Cool Cat, Six..... etc etc etc.

If its Armani and Ralph Lauren your're after, you need to go to Maison de Bonneterie (Rokin 140 with an entrance on the Kalverstraat), a smart department store in the old fashioned sense of the word.

The view from the café at the top of the Kalverstoren mall is fantastic. Good for a glass of wine before a hard Thursday evening's shop.



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Karnemelk

Be warned, red cartons of 'karnemelk' contain buttermilk. The Dutch drink it by the litre, especially at lunch. Blue stands for ordinary milk and green for yoghurt.



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Keizersgracht

The emperor's canal.



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Koninginnedag

queen%27s%20day.jpg

Koninginnedag, or Queen's Day, was begun to celebrate queen Juliana's birthday and current queen Beatrix decided to keep the same date - April 30. Its bedlam. The entire city becomes one gigantic flea market and street party, where anyone can set up a stall and sell all that junk they've been hoarding in the attic.

And they do. The city centre gets totally jammed up with people wearing orange wigs and feather boas or whatever the orange hit of the year is. (Orange being the official Dutch colour, as in House of Orange and the royal family). The Dam, Rozengracht and round the Leidseplein tend to be set aside for commercial stall holders, so are not so interesting. Everyone with a boat tends to take to the water as well.

Don't be afraid to haggle over prices. Mind you, if you are a real bargain hunter rather than a party animal you should probably leave town and head for some village full of rich people.

The Vondelpark is a bit calmer and set aside for children, so be prepared to listen to tortuous violin playing and put a few cents in the politely proffered tin.

I've sold stuff on Queens Day and bought stuff on Queens Day. We still have a very large 1930s coat rack bought four years ago and still waiting to be mended.



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Kosher

For a list of kosher eating places in Amsterdam, click here

The city's most famous Jewish bakery Theeboom closed down in July after running into money trouble.



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Krasnapolsky Hotel

Actually, this is a grand hotel - whatever that means. Named after its founder Adolph Wilhelm Krasnapolsky, who bought a run down Polish coffee shop and began building it into a massive hotel. By the end of the 19th century, the hotel was the only one in the city to have hot water and a telephone in every room. The Kras is now part of the NH Hoteles group.

It does do a very fine high tea - popular with day visitors and grand old ladies.

kras.jpg
The winter gardens

For more on Krasnapolsky's history, click here

Today rooms cost from 161 euros a night, so its websites says (May 2008)



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Krijtberg

This is still very much a working church and the doors are not often open. But if you like over-the-top Catholicism, its gaudy interior is wonderful. The Krijtberg (chalk hill) church (officially Franciscus Xaveriuskerk) takes its nickname from a warehouse where Jesuit priests used to secretly conduct services after Catholicism was banned. The church, built in 1881, narrowly escaped demolition in 1973 because of falling congregations.

Singel 446



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Kuyt

Said to be the best patisserie in the city. If you are looking for Tarte au Poire, merangues, Mousse au Citron or its famous apple slice, Appelschnitt, this is where you must be.

Utrechtestraat 109A
www.patisserikuyt.nl



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Lambiek


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Last minute tickets

Concerts and theatre.

website



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Lectures and debates

Amsterdammers are hot on lectures and debates. Find out who is speaking where - in English - on the DutchNews.nl what's on section.

The John Adams institute, De Balie, Felix Meritis and Rode Hoed are the main locations for debating.



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Legal advice


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Leidseplein

Nightlife, cinema multiplex, tram junction - the Leidseplein actually developed as a sort of car park, where farmers from out of town would leave their carts when entering the old city. There was a city gate here - the Leidsepoort, which was demolished in 1862.

On hot summer evenings, the Leidseplein is filled with those disgusting smelling portable urinals because the hoards of youngsters who flock to hang out on terraces and in bars apparently cannot make it home.



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Leliegracht

One of my favourite canals and, so the story goes, the place where cocoa powder was invented. On the city plans of 1613 the Leliegracht was to have been one of four transverse streets linking the main canal rings. That plan was dropped and the canal was dug instead, becoming an important transport route between the old city centre and the fast-growing working class Jordaan. The house at number 49 hosted the first meeting of the Felix Meritis association in 1777. Ten years later the organisation moved to the Keizersgracht. In 1815 a certain Casparus van Houten got permission to install a chocolate mill at number 22 and his son Coenraad went on to make the highly profitable discovery of how to separate cocoa butter from the ground and roasted beans and so produce cocoa powder.



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Local government

Amsterdam has a city-wide council responsible for crime prevention, education etc, and 15 borough councils which deal with more mundane matters like garbage collection and community groups.

www.amsterdam.nl Official council website. The english button takes you back to the wretched I amsterdam website again.

Continue reading....


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Lois Lane

lois%20lane.jpg

Band fronted by the divine sisters Klemann, Suzanne and Monique.Their biggest hit It's The First Time in 1988 brought them to the attention of Prince and they had a couple of minor hits in the US. Their Abba cover evenings (keep an eye on the Panama listings) are brilliant. Known as Lois L. in the States for legal reasons.



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Looier antiques

Art, antiques and curiosa in a covered market close to the Looiersgracht (tanners' canal). You can bid for items online.

Plus bridge - the card game

http://www.looier.nl/ Website is messy and use of English somewhat haphazard.



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Lutherskerk

I don't know quite how it has happened, but a new red light district seems to have grown up around the Ronde Lutherse Kerk. I feel a bit sorry for everyone who has invested fortunes in fancy canal-side pads only to have Natasha from Russia opening up for business round the corner. The church is now owned by the Renaissance Hotel on the other side of Kattengat and used as a conference and banqueting chamber - possibly a good source of clients for Natasha and her friends?

Kattegat 2

Continue reading....


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Madame Tussad's Scenerama

My kids loved this place when they were smaller, but then they know who all the Dutch characters are as well (Idols winners Jamai and Boris, tv chat host Paul de Leeuw). There are always, well often, queues outside, so tourists must like it. You can buy tickets online

The bulk of Madame Tussaud's, above the Peek & Clopenberg department store, is an audio-visual interpretation of Amsterdam's past, taking the visitor from the heyday of the Golden Age to the 21st century. The commentary which guides visitors from exhibit to exhibit is in both Dutch and English.

Peek & Cloppenburg building, Dam 20

The website is very weak, bad English

Continue reading....


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Magna Plaza

The former city central post office, this was Amsterdam's first multi-level shopping mall. Bright, airy and unlike the rest of the city, you can shop here until 7pm every night. It's mostly upmarket clothing labels with a branch of Sissy Boy (yes, very stupid name) in the basement and a ridiculously expensive and fabulous baby shop (Bam Kinderwinkel) on the first floor.

Corner of Nieuwezijdsvoorburgwal and Raadhuisstraat,
www.magnaplaza.nl

Continue reading....


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Mainport

Mainport is Dutchglish for transport hub. Schiphol airport is a 'mainport' - a major hub for air, road and rail transport. It can get worse... there is also the fabulous word brainport, meaning a concentration of "knowledge industries". But that was a term used by Eindhoven.



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Manners

Amsterdammers are 20th out of 35 countries when it comes to having good manners, according to a Readers Digest survey in June 2006. New York was top of the list, Mumbai bottom.

The Dutch are very keen on shaking hands when they meet new people.

Birthdays are also an extraordinary ritual.

Kissing is done three times.



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Marathon

Takes place in October, sponsored by ING

website



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Max Euweplein

Named after Holland's only world chess champion. You can play open-air giant chess if the nerds will let you on.



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Mediamatic

New media, art and society. Runs workshops, exhbitions, campaigns and even speed dating for artists looking for a muse.

Was behind the terrific El Hema spoof, which the departments store first tried to ban and then whole-heartedly embraced.

http://www.mediamatic.net/

Oosterdokskade 5



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Metz & Co

Posh department store on the Leidsestraat. The building was the tallest in Amsterdam when it was completed in 1891 for the New York Life Insurance Compnay. The glass cupola by Gerrit Rietveld was added in 1933 and Cees Dam designed the sixth-floor cafe. The views are wonderful but the service was terrible. Let me know if it has improved.

Metz & Co is owned by Liberty of London.



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Mexx

Dutch clothes shop chain founded by Rattan Chadha in 1980, now part of the Liz Claiborne Inc empire. A fair subsitute for Gap, which for some strange reason has no shops in the Netherlands. Best for classy menswear with a twist. Basic jeans from 80 euros upwards, casual blazers 130 euros. Mail order. Branch on the Kalverstraat 178 and Gelderlandplein shopping centre. Also store within stores in the Bijenkorf.

www.mexx.com



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Miracle of Amsterdam

In its early days, Amsterdam had dozens of convents and monastries and was a bit of a centre of religious fervour. The miracle of Amsterdam only helped boost this religious tourist trade.

According to legend, a priest was summoned to the bed of a dying man. After receiving the Last Sacrement, the man threw up and the vomit was put on the fire. The following morning the host was found to be undamaged by the flames. Soon a chapel was built on the site, and the road to this chapel became known as the Holy Way (Heilige Weg). A street still bears this name.

From then on a procession of pilgrims, inspired by a series of miracles associated with the chest in which the untouched wafer was placed, followed the Holy Way, although the custom died out when Amsterdam turned officially protestant in 1578. Since the turn of this century the procession has been revived and some 10,000 people take part in it every spring.

The chest which allegedly contained the vomit, but probably stored documents, is on view at the Amsterdamse Historisch Museum.



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Mosques

mosque.jpg
A mosque in Amsterdam Noord. Photo 'borrowed' from Nescio on Flikr

How many mosques does Amsterdam have? I have no idea. But every time they try to build one, there is an almighty row.

For an article about Islam in Amsterdam, click here



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Munttoren

Like the Montelbaanstoren, the Munttoren is one of the few remaining bits of the 1490 city wall. In 1672 and 1673 when the French occupied Amsterdam it was converted into the city's mint, and the name Munttoren has stuck to this day. It is now home to an upmarket gift shop - original Delftware - with very snotty staff. Don't bother to go in unless you look like you have a fortune to spend.



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Museum Energetica

A museum focusing on energy and electricity. Shut down in 2007 for lack of funding despite all that sponsorship from very rich energy firms.



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Museum Night, Museumnacht

A wonderful institution - the first Saturday in November when most of the city's museums open their doors at night and put on special events. The Portuguese Synagogue lit by thousands of candles, cool music in the Tropenmuseum Orangerie...

The organisers say that the aim is to attract young Amsterdammers into the museums - which is why they don't have very much information in English.

What there is about the 2007 event, you can check out here

Cultural magazine Amsterdam Weekly does the work for them.



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Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ concert hall

concert%20hall%20Muziekgebouw%20aan%20%27t%20IJ%20Amsterdam.jpg

Fabulous new glass concert hall on the waterfront just east of central station. Designed by Danish architects 3xNielsen.

One of the best places - if not the best - place for a sundowner. And not a bad place to catch a (jazz, classical, world music) concert either.

website



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NAP

In the city hall is a cluster of very large calibrated flasks. This shows Normaal Amsterdamse Peil, the city's water level, which is a bit lower than normal sea level. The mural illustrates just how much of the country is open to flooding - the lowest point is 6.76 metres below NAP. Scary.



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Nails

Only one person in Amsterdam worth calling about your nails. She can make the stumpiest chewed-up claws look fabulous. I should know. Sandra on 06 24294706



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Narrow houses

The canal cruise commentaries (usually pre-recorded) love to tell yout that Singel 7 is the narrowest houses in the city. Rubbish, of course. Singel 7 appears to be only as wide as a flight of stairs but it is simply the back entrance of a much bigger house on the Jeroenensteeg on the block behind.

The house at Singel 166 is a real narrow house and built the other way round from Singel 7. It dates from 1634 and was constructed by filling in an old alley between two potteries. In fact it is triangular, sixteen metres deep and with a back wall 5 metres across.



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National Monument

The Nationaal Monument is the memorial to all the Dutch who died during WWII. It becomes a focal point for remembering the dead (Dodenherdenking) on May 4 every year when queenie and the pm come and lay wreaths here. Unveiled in 1956 the 22 metre obelisk was designed by J.J.P. Oud and is decorated with sculpted figures.

The two lions fronting the memorial are national symbols and imbedded in the wall behind are urns containing earth from each Dutch province and the colonies of Indonesia, Antillies and Surinam. The Latin text reads "Here where the heart of the Fatherland lies may the memorial, that citizens carry in their deepest hearts, look up to the stars of God."



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Negen Straatjes (nine streets)

The Negen Straatjes - nine streets - is the name given to a wonderful little shopping area between the Rozengracht, Singel and the Prinsengracht - the nine streets link the main canals together. A very jolly place to indulge in what the Dutch call "funshoppen". Clothes, kitchen equipment, vases, paper, books, second hand, 50s plates, shoes, underwear and no high street chains. And lots of nice cafes for lunch.

This website allows you to have a visual poke around.



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Nemo

Science museum, housed in a spectacular green building in the water next to central station. My kids think its great and my parents thinks its the best science museum they've been to. Avoid during school holidays if you can, it gets very, very busy. Great views from the cafe. In the summer, for some odd reason, they cover the terrace with sand and turn it into a "city beach". An odd trend. I've never quite understood the urge to get sand everywhere when you can't dive into the sea.

Oosterdok 2

website



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Nes

It's hard to believe that this quiet narrow street was once thriving with medieval life. Although still home to several theatres and companies associated with the financial sector, in the 17th century the Nes housed a busy peasant fish market, a meat market, slum houses and several cloisters.

Continue reading....


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Nieuwendijk

The downmarket extension of the Kalverstraat shopping street. The Nieuwendijk (new dyke) was one of the early sea defences and dates back to the beginning of the city. An awful lot of branches of H&M.



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Nieuwmarkt

In the 15th century, the Nieuwmarkt was just that - a market, but it did not take on the name until the 17th century when it was incorporated into the city. It still has a fine collection of old houses although many were demolished when the metro was built in the 1970s. The square is dominated by the Waag, the old weighhouse.

Nice cafe terraces in the summer, and restaurant Bern is still the place to go for a proper fondue. You need to book.



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Night school

The Volksuniversiteit runs courses on just about anything, from Dutch for beginners to website design and philosophy.

website Scroll down for information in English.



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Nightwatch

Rembrandt's masterpierce, now on show at the mini Rijksmuseum - while the big one is being renovated.

The Nightwatch, according to the Rijksmuseum website



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Noord

Amsterdam is divided into two by the IJ. You have Amsterdam and you have Amsterdam Noord. Noord borough council has an English-language website.

There are some nice bits in Noord. Cycle or stroll down the Nieuwedammerdijk (there are a couple of cafés at good stopping off points) and you can forget your are supposed to be in some great metropolis. Parts of the Tuindorp (garden village) development, built in the mid-1920s, are a national monument.

purmerplein.jpg
The Purmerplein entrance

Noord used to have a bad reputation, but it is improving as south of the river dwellers make the crossing in search of cheaper family homes. The coming of the new metro link is pushing up property prices close to where the metro stations will be built.

Outside the city itself at the other side of the A10, the villages of Durgerdam, Ransdorp and the like very much hark back to a rural Holland. There's a decent cycle route round the whole area - about 40 km all in.

ransdorp.jpg



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Noorderkerk

The Noorderkerk (1620) is not the first consecrated protestant church to be built in the Netherlands -- that honour belongs to a church in Willemstad - but it is the first protestant church to be built in the shape of a Greek Cross, with a central pulpit and as few pillars as possible, allowing the entire congretation a good view and no distorting echo to destroy "the word".

Continue reading....


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Noordermarkt

The Saturday Boerenmarkt (farmer's market) on the Noordermarkt is where you will see Amsterdam's foodie, liberal, leftie elite at their finest. From 10 am onwards, they flock to the Noordermarkt to buy the finest organic meat, cheese, fruit and vegetables, along with fair-trade shopping baskets and massage oils. Okay, I shop here too. In autumn, the mushroom stall is to die for. The corn on the cob in September is fantastic, the corriander salsa all summer is too moorish for words.

Continue reading....


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Okura Hotel

A city skyline landmark and what some say is the best Japanese food in town.

website



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Open Monumentendag, Heritage Days

Second weekend in September. Its a weekend when many of the city's listed buildings are open to the public - be it private houses or office blocks or old factories. Great for nosey types who've always to see how the wealthy canal house owners live. Top attractions get busy, so plan your visits in advance. Each weekend usually has a theme. In 2005 it was religious buildings.

website



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Otter windmill

Amsterdam's last working sawmill, the Otter, is open to the public when the flag is flying, usually on a Friday afternoon when the wind is stronger than force 5. The mill is currently at the centre of a legal battle over council building plans which the mill's supporters say are taking away the wind.
otter.jpg
The Otter in Amsterdam's first industrial estate

Continue reading....


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Oude Kerk

Oudekerksplein.23
www.oudekerk.nl



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Oude Schans

oudeschans.jpg
The Oude Schans, photographed by Jacob Olie in 1863

The Oude Schans is a wide canal which sweeps down from the St Antoniesluis to the Oosterdok by Central Station. The canal - originally known as the New Canal was dug in the 16th century when a new industrial area, known as the Lastage was created to the east of the old centre. It is most famous for views of the Montelbaanstoren, part of the city's then fortifications.

The area around the Oude Schans has some splendid and very expensive mansions - one of the city's best kept secrets.



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Oudemanhuispoort

The Oudemanhuispoort, the gateway to a former collection of almshouses is now part of Amsterdam University and home to the law and social science departments. There have been shops in the covered walkway since 1757 - now its a popular second hand book market.



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PC Hooftstraat

Okay, we can be historical and talk about the street being named after the writer and poet Pieter Cornelius Hooft or we can go for the jugular and talk about the poshest shopping street in the country and most expensive bit of the Dutch Monopoly board.

All the designer stores are here (Gucci etc), and you will see the greatest concentration of botox, facelifts and blonde streaks. Logo logo logo. Our very own footballers' wives - Mrs Estelle Gullit etc - can be spotted here most days of the week. The SUV is known in Dutch as the PC Hooftstraat Tractor and you can see why.



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Pakjesavond for grown-ups

December 5. This is the adult version of Sinterklaas - the way the Dutch give gifts when there are no children around. Older school children also make surprises (pronounced suepreeses) for each other.

What happens is this: You decide to celebrate Sinterklaas with family or friends. Then you spend the next few weeks buying presents for everyone and disguising them as something else.Then you write a long and witty poem to go with each gift. If you are sensible, you will put all the names in a hat and draw out one person. Otherwise you will have exhausted all your creativity for months.

The presents are amazingly ingenious. My husband once gave me a rainbow, which hid a pair of gloves. The poems can be terribly pointed about people's faults. Its a great way to tease children who never tidy their rooms or leave chewing gum all over the place. But I am always astounded by how much time and effort people put into their presents.



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Paleis van Justitie

The Paleis van Justitie - law courts - have been housed in a former orphanage on the Prinsengracht for the past 170 years. The Parool mentions one of its earliest cases; a certain Maria D, a food seller, had to appear before the judge after swearing at police officers who had asked her to move her cart, which was blocking the entire Anjeliersstraat. She was found guilty and fined eight guilders.



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Pancakes

Must you? The Pancake Bakery on the Prinsengracht, close to the Anne Frank House, is supposed to be good.

A friend of mine says the only way to eat them is with bacon (spek), apple and maple syrup.

poffertjes-groot.gif

Poffertjes are little puffy pancakes eaten with butter and icing sugar and much nicer



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Parade


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Paradiso

A former church and now pop temple. U2 used to play here before becoming world famous. Much more dancey now than it was in the early 80s when the audience was usually too stoned to move. Robbie Williams previewed his new album here in October 2005.

Weteringschans 6-8
website (online tickets, but you also need to buy membership at the door)



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Parking

When Amsterdam decided to set up borough councils, one of the activities the central council devolved was parking. A thorny subject in Amsterdam. It very much depends where in the city you are, but as a rule of thumb, there is paid parking everywhere from 7am or 9am to 7pm or 9pm or 11 pm or midnight, and sometimes on a Sunday.

Yep, it all depends on the borough council, so make sure you know where you are. Most boroughs will clamp or tow away wrongly-parked cars. Reckon on paying around 3.40 euros per hour in the city centre. If you have been clamped, there is a section telling you what to do under 'clamping'. In September 2008, the council announced it was to phase out clamping because it is tourist unfriendly.

The city council website's section on cars opens with the question 'do you really want to bring your car to Amsterdam'. Its a good question.

The website also has a good map of what parking costs.

There is some city council information about transport and all that in English.



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Parool

Amsterdam's newspaper, on the newstands by early afternoon. One of the first Dutch papers to go tabloid and finally making a profit. Nothing in English.

www.parool.nl



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Pauw

Means peacock. Clothes for girls who live in the grachtengordel - the canal rings. Lots of linen and cotton and waists. Sort of funky Dutch preppies or Sloane Rangers. Three branches on Amsterdam's Van Baerlestraat.

website



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Pedalos

Are you mad?

www.canalbike.nl



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Photos

A great archive of photographs of Amsterdam around 1900.

An archive of aerial photographs (some explanation in English)

Panoramas (very addictive)



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Port of Amsterdam

Keen to improve its image and its relevance to Amsterdammers. Lots of information in English including four cycling routes!

website



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Portuguese Synagogue

portuguese%20synagoge.jpg

One of the city's best-kept secrets. Next to the Waterlooplein and the busy roundabout is a walled courtyard, the entrance to the Portuguese Synagogue. Inaugurated in 1675, it is a massive, dignified building. Occasionally they organise candle-lit concerts. Not to be missed.

Mr Visserplein 3

website



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Provos

An artistic, anarchic, political movement in Amstedam in the mid-1960s. One of its founders, Roel van Duijn, is now active as a green politician in the Oud Zuid borough council.

All about the provos from a column in the San Francisco Examiner in 1966

And this article from High Times. The photos have not transfered properly to internet, but if you are interested in counter-culture, its a must.



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Public Transport - the GVB

Amsterdam has fabulous public transport, even if the silly strippenkaart system is awkward to use. You have a choice of trams, buses and metro. It's clean, fast and a one-zone journey will cost you 1.60 euros. The government wants Amsterdam to put its public transport out to tender, but in a referendum a few years ago, an overwhelming majority of Amsterdammers voted to keep the GVB in public hands.

The GVB website is clear, well-written and explains everything.

For bus services, also out of town Connexxion (Dutch only)

The 92920v website is a handy Journey planner (Dutch only)

Continue reading....


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Queen Beatrix

Occasionally comes to the city. Has a large house on the Dam which she uses to entertain in occasionally. Got married here and caused a riot. If you really want to know about the Oranges', this is their website:

The Netherlands is, technically, a republic.

For the Republican Society, click here. Lots of men in suits and Dutch only.



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Rai

Massive exhibition centre complex, also stages 'theatre spectaculars'. The RAI exhibition and convention started life in 1893 as De RI (De Rijwiel-Industrie/bicycle industry association). The A for automobile was added in 1900. Today the organisation consists of 11 exhibition halls with a combined covered area of around 87,000m², plus 22 conference rooms, seven restaurants and an underground car park for over 3,000 cars. The RAI’s official pay-off line is ‘inspiring people’.

The annual woningbeurs - all about modern living - is one of the biggest shows it stages. Contrast that with the Nordic Orthopaedic Federation Congress, hosted in June 2008.

website

For some bizarre reason, the Rai also has a webcam



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Randstad

The Randstad literally means peripheral city.It is the term used to describe the urban sprawl that makes up the central western Netherlands, running through the four big cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague.

Randstad is also the name of the Netherlands' leading temporary employment agency.



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Rasphuis

Forget your boot camps. This is the old Dutch day of dealing with thugs. Opened in 1596 as a house of correction, the Rasphuis (Grating House) was one of several such institutions around the old city. Here men were put to work grating Brazilian hardwood for use in dye and paint. All that remains now is the 17th century gateway, showing a wood laden cart being pulled by wild animals...an allegorical refence to taming anti-social elements in society! The Rasphuis's female equivalent, the Spin Huis (Spinning house), stood on the Oude Zijdes Achterburgwal.

Heiligeweg



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Ravensbruck monument

ravensbruk%20monument%20amsterdam.jpg

The Ravensbruck monument, in a quiet corner of the Museumpleun, is a memorial to the thousands of women who were sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany during WWII. It's a curious steel structure. The central column emits light interspersed by a dull beat and the text reads "for women who to the utmost kept saying no to fascism". There is an annual memorial ceremony, attended by a dwindling number of survivors.

www.ravensbruk.nl (Dutch only but masses of information)



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Red Light District

Also known as De Wallen (literally, the walls). The name comes from the area’s location in the oldest part of town, in the narrow alleys between the old town walls or burgwallen. The location of the wall can be traced along the neighbourhood’s canals such as the Oudezijds Achterburgwal. The red light district has existed here since the 14th century.

No-one seems to know just how many red light district windows there are in Amsterdam - estimates range from 150 to 450. For more, see this DutchNews.nl story

The area is currently undergoing a controversial and major clean-up - the council is buying up brothels and turning the buildings into something else and is withdrawing operating licences from people with allegedly dodgy connections.

Rob van Hulst, is an ex soapie who has set himself up as a red light district tour guide. Some of his suggestions include finger bites - an interesting translation of hapjes -

www.robvanhulst.nl (various languages)



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Rembrandt huis

Not the famous one with the etchings...but a plaque on the wall at Rozengracht 184 notes that Rembrandt spent the last years of his life here, from 1660 to his death nine years later. (not the same building either come to that)



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Rembrandthuis (Museum het)

The house where Rembrandt lived between 1639 and 1658. Now with recreated rooms, etchings and special exhibitions.

Next to the town hall and Waterlooplein market. Jodenbreestraat 4

website



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Rembrandtsplein

Has been a centre for nightlife since the end of the 19th century with the opening of the Gouden Hoofd in 1890, the Mast (renamed the Mille Colonnes Hotel) in 1889, the Schiller in 1892, De Kroon in 1898, and the Rembrandt theatre in 1902. In the summer, the cafe terraces are packed with people enjoying a drink and watching the world go by. Schiller has great Art Deco interior.

Continue reading....


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Rembrandttoren

The meeting room on the 32nd floor is the highest in the city and offers wonderful views to the sea on a clear day. Probably deeply expensive - any clue anyone? - but very impressive.

info@rtboardroom.nlwww.rembrandttowerboardroom.nl



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Resistance museum, Verzetsmuseum

A moving but not sentimental museum dedicated to the resistance movement during the Occupation of the Netherlands by the Nazis.

Plantage Kerklaan 61

website



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Restaurants

I'm not giving any tips here. Self interest. Its almost impossible just to turn up at a popular Amsterdam restaurant on the spur of the moment anyway. Yes, booking is advised, especially at the weekend.

The best restaurant guide is iens independent index which has comprehensive reviews in English. It's never let me down.

Amsterdam's most notorious restaurant critic is Johannes van Dam, a very large bearded gentleman with a penchant for leather waistcoats. His reviews are published weekly in Het Parool newspaper.

(Dutch only, but you can read the marks out of 10)



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Rietveld

Architect and furniture maker (1888, 1964), part of De Stijl movement.

Perhaps best known for the very uncomfortable-looking Red Blue Chair from 1919 and the Rietveld Schroder house in Utrecht.

Gave his name to Amsterdam's highly-regarded art school



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Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum, closed in 2003 for a major overhaul, will not reopen until 2013 at the earliest thanks, in part, to a row over funding. In the meantime you can see 'all the masterpieces' in the mini Rijks.

Jan Luykenstraat 1
website



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Rob Oudkerk

Vile ex-Labour (PvdA) city councillor, Rob Oudkerk was thrown out of the council after it emerged he had been visiting prostitutes. We aren't talking high-class girls here. No, indeed. Oudkerk liked to get "rid of the pressures of the job" by having sex in his car with the sad unfortunates who worked on the Tippelzone - a concrete car park in the harbour where junkies, rebuilt boys and underaged Eastern European girls were officially allowed to ply their trade.

Oudkerk, a doctor who still has a city practice, thought there was nothing wrong with what he did and keeps hinting that he would like to return to politics. Bizarrely enough, an opinon poll in the Parool newspaper in October 2005 showed that 8% of Amsterdammers would definitely vote for him he formed his own political party to fight the local elections. And a horrifying 24% might well vote for him. Oh those liberal Amsterdammers.



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Roemer Visscherstraat

I can't believe any tourist or casual visitor would actually check this out unless they were staying in a hotel here, but this street always makes me smile. Numbers 20 to 32 are known as "the seven countries" because they are built in the architectural style of houses in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, The Netherlands and England.

Aletta Jacobs (1854-1929), the first woman in Amsterdam to go to University, and be awarded the academic title "doctor", lived in this street.



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Rosé

Een rosétje - a little rosé - was a deeply popular drink on Amsterdam's summer terraces for the past few years, but prosecco is now taking it over.

But believe it or not, a blind tasting of 149 rosés at a Scheveningen beach club in 2006 put a local Dutch wine top of the list. The wine, Sueterie, came from the Hof van Twente vineyard. Of the 1,000 bottles produced, most had been sold before the tasting took place.



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Royal Palace, Koninklijk Paleis

This palace, occasionally used by the queen for ceremonial functions, was actually built as the city's town hall between 1648 and 1665 and designed by Jacob van Campen. But it became a palace in 1808 when Napoleon installed his brother as king of the Netherlands.

palace.jpg

In April 2008 Amsterdam city council realised it had forgotten to celebrate 200 years of being the Dutch capital. A deeply embarrassing event.

The palace, which is being renovated as I write this (May 2008), is sometimes open to the public. For a virtual tour, check out the royal family website



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Sales

Uitverkoop - the winter sales seem to start after December 5 (Sinterklaas), the summer ones, as soon as it's spring.



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Scheepvaartmuseum, maritime museum

Closed for renovation until at least the end of 2009.

Kattenburgerplein 1
website



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Schiphol airport

Likes to be called Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, with a capital A for Airport. When I first moved here it was pretty easy to get around. Now the single terminal concept has been stretched and stretched so it takes for ever to walk to some of the far gates. You get a warning with your check-in time.

Schiphol has also become a 'shopping experience' (yawn). It even has a mini Rijksmuseum with rotating exhibitions to keep those transit passengers happy.

www.schiphol.com



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Schrierstoren


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Shaking hands

A Dutch obssession. One of those norms and values all foreigners have to adopt in order to be truely integrated.

The Dutch shake hands all the time. You walk into a party full of strangers and you are expected to introduce yourself and shake hands with everyone there. When you come back form holiday, you shake hands with your office colleagues. Of course, if you are female, you do a lot of kissing as well. Far too much forced contact for my liking.

Mind you, people in Britain think my children are extraordinarily well behaved because they shake hands with grown ups.

Holland's horrible former integration minister Rita Verdonk used to go out of her way to be seen at places where Muslim men will refuse to shake her hand. There always seemed to be a photographer with camera at the ready as well.



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Shop opening times

Most shops are closed on Monday morning. Bizarre.

As a rough guide:

Monday: 12 - 6 or 6.30
Tuesday: Wednesday, Friday: 10-6 or 6.30
Thursday: 10-9 (city centre only
Saturday: 10-5 or 5.30
Sunday: 1-5 (city centre only)

Some supermarkets are open until 8pm or 9pm. But a 24/7 shopping paradise Amsterdam is not.



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Shopping in Amsterdam

An online guide to Amsterdam shops, with special offers and all sorts of other gimmicks.

21st Century Amsterdam



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Silodam

silodam%20amsterdam.jpg

Jutting out into the IJ, the Silodam, designed by architects' bureau MVDRV, has 157 homes. The owners have their own website with lots of photographs, but only in Dutch



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Singles

One in four men and one in five women in the Netherlands live alone, says the national statistics office CBS.



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Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas is Santa and Father Christmas. I'll spare you the history lesson until later. The second or third Saturday of November he always arrives in Amsterdam on his white horse, accompanied by his little helpers who will throw ginger nuts at you. Most small children are terrified by Sinterklaas but will be dragged off to witness the procession anyway.

Read on if you want the real story!

Continue reading....


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Six Collection

A privately owned collection of 17th century paintings and not open to the general public. The collection has two oils by Rembrandt, one a portrait of Jan Six himself (who was 16-times mayor of Amsterdam) and the other his mother Anna Wijmer. Six was a friend and patron of Rembrandt's and it is said the portrait was Rembrant's way of repaying a 1000 guilder loan. You need to apply at the Rijksmuseum for tickets.n

Amstel 216



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Skating

As soon as it starts to freeze, Holland gets overtaken by ice fever. Will we get to skate on natural ice? Will there be an Elfstedentocht (the 200 km 11 city ice marathon)? Distance skating involves a long low and seemingly effortless glide. Ice dance (kunstschatsen) is not a big sport here.

Without natural ice, and there hasn't been much since the last Elfstedentocht in 1997, we have to make do with the Jaap Edenbaan in Watergraafsmeer. The outdoor track is open from October to mid March. The indoor rink is mainly for organised events. Very busy on sunny days.

The Museumplein has a small temporary outside rink in the depths of winter and you can rent skates.

Jaap Eden Baan
Radioweg 64
website Dutch only

Skating school (intensive lessons in the school holidays, also in-line skating)
www.duosport.nl Dutch only



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Sluices

Amsterdam has some 15 sluices which are opened every night. The whole pumping process replaces about one third of the water in the city's canals each evening. When there is a heavy frost, one of the first decisions that has to be taken is whether or not to stop opening the sluices, and so make it easier for the canals to freeze over.



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Slums

When I first came to Amsterdam in 1980 I asked where the slums were and was directed to Oost. I failed to find anything resembling the run-down tenements and council estates we called slums back in the UK. Concentrations of immigrants and poor whites, okay. But Amsterdam is rich. Its housing corporations take pretty good care of their housing stock. Some 70% of Amsterdam's houses is in corporation hands, 20% is owned by private landlords and 10% is owner-occupied.

satellite%20dishes.jpg

Many immigrants and other low income families are concentrated in the newer suburbs - nicknamed satellite city. The cable tv firms might show CNN and the BBC and even Spanish or French tv, but not an Arabic broadcaster.



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Smoking

Banned in all cafes, restaurants and bars from July 1, unless they have a totally sealed-off separate area.



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Snack bars

For your chips and your junk food head for your local snackbar. To help you find your way: Dutch chips are skinny and crisp, Belgian chips are fatter and better. The Dutch call chips patat and crisps chips. Just to make bilingual life complicated.

For the unintiated:

Patat met: chips with mayonnaise
Patatje oorlog (war chips): chips with mayonnaise and saté sauce (Dutch versus the Indonesians)
Patat speciaal: chips with tomato sauce, mayonnaise and raw chopped onions

A kroket is rissole with a vaguely meat filling. Eat with mustard. A fricandel is a fried thingie which once looked at a cow and a horse at the same time. It's the ultimate in "recovered meat". Avoid like the plague

The best chips in Amsterdam are to be found on the Voetboogstraat, just off the Heilegeweg.



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St Nicolaaskerk

One of my favourite churches in Amsterdam - because of its scale and its European-ness. The church is one of the first things you see when you step out of Central Station and could do with a good clean. The doors are usually locked, as are most churches in this country but you might be lucky.

As the patron saint of seafarers, Sint Nicolaas was an important figure in Amsterdam - giving his name to this grand church among many, as well as to The Netherlands principal gift giving day - Sinter Klaas on December 5.
Finished in 1887, the Nicolaaskerk -- designed by the architect A C Bleys -- replaced some of the clandestine catholic churches around the city which had been set up when Amsterdam became officially protestant in 1578 and Catholics had to practise their religion in private. Waning congregations and a radical reorganisation of the Catholic parishes in Amsterdam forced its closure in 1971 but support from the Diocese of Harlem and the city authorities, it was kept open for public worship. several years ago but following widescale protests the church was saved from demolition.


Prinshendrikkade 73

Continue reading....


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Statistics

The Dutch love statistics. Amsterdam is no exception. And its own statistics office O+S produces lots and lots of useful figures. You will find them all here.



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Stedelijk Museum

Oosterdokskade 5
www.stedelijk.nl



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Stelling van Amsterdam, defence line of Amsterdam

A Unesco world heritage site - basically a 135km long defensive ring around the city made up of 42 forts, built between 1880 and 1920. In case of attack, great swathes of the countryside could be flooded, and the capital protected.

stelling-van-amsterdam.jpg

For the Unesco information, click here



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Stilett

Alas, no more, Stilett was the only place to buy t-shirts in the 1980s and 90s. Anarchic, arty and sometimes downright bad taste.



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Stopera and Stadhuis

The city hall and music theatre complex was completed in 1988 following the demolition of the last of the city's old Jewish quarter. If you have to do city council things, this is where you will come. But for most official business, like driving licences and print-outs from the population registry, its probably quicker to use your borough council offices.

The theatre was nicknamed Stopera (stop the opera) and now cheerfully uses it. Home to the national ballet, opera and symphony orchestra.

Café Danzig is not a bad spot for a pre prandial.

Waterlooplein 22
www.stopera.nl English and Dutch



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Suikerhof

Between numbers 147 and 165 Lindengracht is the Suikerhof, set up in 1667 by Pieter Jansz. Suikerhof (so it should really be called "Suikerhofhofje") for the "daughters and widows of protestant families". The women, who received 20 tons of peat, ten pounds of rice, a tub of butter and some money each year in addition to a place to live, had to be "honest, have irreproachable conduct and a peaceful nature".

The charming central courtyard with its somewhat overgrown garden contains a pump, once the only source of water. The complex used to contain 19 dwellings today there are just 15. The hofje was rennovated in 1989.

At number 94 to 122 is the Lindenhofje, built in 1616 and one of the oldest hofjes in the city. However little is left of its original structure and it is rarely open.



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Swimming

Amsterdam has masses of pools but all the indoor ones close in the summer to force you to swim outdoors:

Floraparkbad (outdoor)
Sneeuwbalweg 5
(020) 6368121

Flevoparkbad(outdoor)
Zeeburgerdijk 630
020- 692 5030

Mirandabad (indoor and outdoor, plus a flume)
De Mirandalaan 9
020-546 4444

Zuiderbad (indoor)
Hobbemastraat 26
020-678 1390

Bijlmerbad
Bijlmerpark 76

Brediusbad (outdoor)
Spaarndammerdijk 306
020-6846984

Sloterparkbad (indoor and outdoor, flumes)
President Allendelaan 3
020 - 506 3 506

Sportfondsenbad Oost (indoor, a place to learn to swim)
Fronemanstraat 3
020 6650 811

Sportfondsenbad West (indoor, a place to learn to swim)
Cornelis Dirkszstraat 11c
020 - 618 89 11



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Tassenmuseum, Museum of Bags and Purses

Ashamed to say I have not yet visited this museum, which has a collection of handbags dating from the 16th century.

Herengracht 573

website



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Taxis

A few years ago, a number of morons in government decided that the taxi sector, which worked perfectly well even if they were a bit expensive, needed to be opened up to the evils, sorry benefits, of market forces.

In this great new world of free market taxis, passengers could negotiate prices, pick and chose their cabs and everything in the garden would be rosy. What these bright sparks failed to appreciate of course was that by abolishing the taxi licence, every Tom, Dick and Harry would start a taxi service - they say the city now has 6,000 - and it's chaos. Rip-off merchants who take the long way home, refuse short journeys, don't speak any language you do and drive around in death traps.

Now (in 2008) the city council has come up with the innovative concept of the 'quality taxi' - kwaliteitstaxi - which is supposed to offer a better service and give you some protection against being ripped off. The only taxis allowed to operate at central station are kwaliteitstaxis.

If you want to be relatively sure your taxi is okay, go for a TCA cab. TCA was the central taxi system which got busted open when the licence was abolished. You still have to fulfil certain standards to be a TCA taxi.

To order a cab, ring: 020 6777 777



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The Movies

Wonderful art deco cinema at the far end of the Haarlemerstraat. It's the oldest cinema in the capital, having opened its doors in 1912, and it still has a slightly decadent feel. Great peeling mirrors in the loos. Four screens and a restaurant where you can have a "filmdinner" before or after the show. Three fine courses and they remind you if you are lingering too long over your brandy before the film starts. From 29 euros including the ticket. Recommended.

Haarlemerstraat 159
www.themovies.nl



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Theo Thijssen

A great educator, union man, Socialist MP and writer. (1879-1943) Most famous for his book Kees de Jongen. There is a small museum to him in the Jordaan:

Eersteleliedwarstraat 16
1015 TA Amsterdam
Tel: 020 4207119

http://www.theothijssenmuseum.nl Dutch only



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Theo van Gogh

theo_van_gogh.jpg

Maverick film maker, columnists and television chat show host, in which he got his guests to kiss a cactus. Van Gogh (the painter was his great uncle) was murdered by an Islamic fundamentalist on November 2 2004. He had aroused the ire of the loony Islamic fringe by making a 10-minute film about Islam and women called Submission - featuring a naked woman with verses from the Koran written on her body. Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote the 'script'.

Van Gogh made a string of successful and not so successful Dutch language films. He was an overweight, chain-smoking loud mouth who revelled in calling Muslims "goat-fuckers" and wishing cancer on politicians he disliked. But people I know who knew him said he was a complete sweetie as well.

His murder came to be associated with the right to free speech - a right interpreted by his friends to mean the right to say vile things about everyone who did not agree with them - especially foreigners. The 'friends of Theo' continue their campaigns in their newspaper columns to this day.



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Tips

By British and American standards, Amsterdammers are very mean tippers. They often just round up the bill, even if it means a couple of euros on a hundred euro dinner during which you spilt wine all over the table.



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Toilets

There are a few very smelly mens urinals around, but womens public loos? You'll just have to go in a bar or café and pay your 50 cents.

If the loo has an ultra violet light in it, it is to keep the junkies out - apparently they cannot see their veins. Not that you see junkies very much anymore anyway.



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Torensluis

Built on a 17th century sluice gate, the Torensluis was named after two towers on either side of the water built in 1616 but demolished -- along with many other waterfront towers in the old city -- because they were too expensive to maintain.
The Torensluis is the widest bridge in Amsterdam and has a lock-up jail built into its foundations. The statue in the middle is a bust of the 19th century Dutch writer Multatuli, whose most famous book, about a coffee merchant "Max Havelaar", has given its name to a Dutch aid organisation which imports coffee, bananas and chocolate and pays the growers an economic rate for their produce. In the summer months a cafe terrace spills over the sluis, which is a great way to sit and admire the view. The book I found to be terribly dull, but maybe it was just a bad translation.



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Tourist information

Not that simple any more. Now Amsterdam has discovered marketing, we no longer have a simple tourist board. Instead we have the Amsterdam Tourist and Convention Board.

www.atcb.nl

However, there is also a special tourist subsite which seems to be unnecessarily complicated and irritatingly without links.

Amsterdam.info is a no-nonsense site for tourists with all the basic information.



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Trains

Dutch trains are great. They are clean and fast and not that expensive. And very busy at peak periods. But given the endless traffic jams and impossiblity of finding a parking space, they are the best way to visit another city. If you are going to the centre of The Hague from Amsterdam, you will need to change at Leiden otherwise you will end up at the out of town station Den Haag HS.

Keep an eye on your luggage if you are going to Schiphol by train. Schiphol - Amsterdam Lelylaan is a popular bit of track for bag snatchers. If youths in baseball caps are hanging around the first class carriage, ask yourself why.

The revamped NS website has a route planner etc in English, plus an online demo of how to use a touch screen ticket machine.

For high speed trains to the continent - don't be fooled. There are no high speed trains in Holland yet. The website for the stupidly-named hispeed company which is supposed to operate them says it is offering a brand new concept. Laughable.



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Trams

Trams are wonderful. They are fast, they beat the jams, and they are pretty good for the environment. If you are old, pregnant, disabled, carrying a baby and a toddler etc, do not expect anyone to give you a seat - especially not a middle-aged Dutch woman or man. When I was pregnant, the only people who ever stood up for me were young Moroccan and Turkish men. You also probably won't be allowed to take an unfolded baby buggy on a tram or a bus. Watch out for pickpockets when it is busy.

The strip ticket thingie is incomprehensible to all but the Dutch. From 2009, strippenkaarten will be replaced by a chip card and automatic reader system - like the London Oyster card, only here it will be compulsory. That's what the powers that be hope anyway.

Ten trams leave from Central station.
The GVB website has all the info about how to get where ever.



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Tulips

bulbs.jpg
(Ok, these are hyacinths, not tulips)

The song might say Tulips from Amsterdam but in fact they are grown in the sandy dune area between Haarlem and The Hague known as the bollenstreek - bulb stretch - centred on Lisse. The season runs from around Easter with the daffodils and hyancinths to the beginning of May and the colours are blinding on a sunny day.

Most tulips are grown for the bulbs not the flowers, which get picked off and left in big heaps at the edge of the fields. If you see tulips in expensive flower shops, they may well have come from France.

The big bargain bunches you can buy on markets are cheap for a good reason and need a lot of loving care. Plunge them into cold water while still in the paper for a good few hours, then slice a few centimetres off the bottom of each stalk. My mother-in-law swears that putting pin prick in each just under the bloom will stop them growing too long and going floppy while in the vase.

I like to leave tulips for weeks until the petals are all dried up and twisted. They make wonderful shapes.



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Tuschinski Theatre

The best place in town to go to the movies. An Art Deco masterpiece which has been lovingly preserved. All Dutch film premieres take place here and you can see why. The semi-circular main auditorium is stunning. Pay a couple of euros more than the normal ticket price for a box and you'll not only get more leg room, but a glass of champagne as well. Luxury. If you don't want to catch a film, there are guided tours on Monday mornings.

tuschinski.jpg

Yes, the foyer really does look like this

(While the Dutch use subtitles for foreign films, cartoons tend to be dubbed, so if you're heading for Shrek 43, make sure its the right version).

Regulierssbreestraat 36-34

website (Dutch only)

Continue reading....


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U2

Big scandal. U2 and its anti world poverty campaigning singer Bono have shifted some of their affairs to Amsterdam to take advantage of tax breaks. U2 Limited is owner of the group's master tapes - a deeply lucrative little industry.

U2 are in good company, they join the Rolling Stones!



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Uitburo

Theatre, concert and show information and online ticket sales.

Leidesplein, next to the Schouwburg theatre

http://www.amsterdamsuitburo.nl/ (Dutch only)

For a full English-language What's On, go to www.underwateramsterdam.com

or DutchNews.nl

For last minute tickets, click here



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Uitmarkt

Last week of August. The official launch of the new cultural season. Now focused around the Eastern Docklands so a boat is a fun way of getting around. Lots of live shows so you need to plan your day well. It usually rains.

www.uitmarkt.nl



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Underground, tube, metro

Whatever you call it, Amsterdam's got one and its about to get another line as well. The current route goes from Central Station out to the suburbs of Zuidoost. It was built in the late 1970s after masses of protest and much rioting. The Nieuwmarkt station has been decorated with photos of the protests.

Big efforts have been made in recent years to improve safety after the metro became notorious for its drug dealing.

The new line being built will connect Noord to the World Trade Centre. The chaos that is now the Rokin is part of it.



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Universities

Amsterdam has two: the Vrij University , which has a Christian basis and is known as the VU and the University of Amsterdam. The VU is concentrated around Buitenveldert to the south of the city, while the UvA is right in the city centre.



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VOC

The Dutch East India Company was founded in 1602. It was the world's first multinational corporation and the first company to issue shares. So says wikipedia.

In 2007, prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende caused an outcry when he called for a return to the VOC spirit in the Netherlands. He later toned down his comments, saying he meant the entrepreneurial spirit, not praise for slavery and colonialism.



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Van Gogh Museum

Paulus Potterstraat 7

You can now buy tickets online via the website. And it is open until 10pm on Fridays.



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Van Loon Museum

Like the Willet Holthuysen museum, another way to get a look inside one of Amsterdam's grandest canal houses. The Van Loon's are another of Amsterdam's important families and the house has remained pretty much intact over time since it was built in the 17th century.

Keizersgracht 672
website

Continue reading....


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Vegetarians

Cheese or cheese? Actually, most menus will have something for vegetarians.

And here is a list of veggie and vegan restaurants

At a private home, beware of vegetable soup, which often includes meat balls.



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Victim support, ATAS

ATAS is apparently an organisation that will help tourists (foreigners?) who have become victims of a crime.

Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 104-108
Amsterdam 1012 SG

Phone 020-6253246



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Vingboons

Philips Vingboons (1607 to 1678) was one of the city's most influential architects of the period, known for his classic style. His brother Justus was also an architect but less well-known.

vingboons.jpg

Herengracht 364 to 370 includes the Bible Museum



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Vondelpark

It's Amsterdam's most popular park, but if you don't like crowds or dogs avoid it like the plague - too full of inline skaters, and students playing football. And in the summer you cannot move for picnics.

The park has been developed in "English langscape style" and has 127 different types of trees, a Picasso statue of a fish, and a large colony of very noisy ringed paraqueets. The Round Tea House has a nice terrace and good rolls.

Het Groot Melkhuis was originally built as a farm with 25 cows and milk was sold to the park goers for 5 cents a glass. After the farm built down the current cafe was built, retaining the original name. In the summer the playground is packed with children while their parents take advantage of the sun on the terraces.

Continue reading....


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Vrankrijk

vrankrijk.jpg

Squatters cafe, club and information centre which has managed to stay open despite all sorts of official efforts to shut it down - like insisting it has an operating licence. The building was squatted in 1982.

Its agenda includes punk nights and squatting surgeries.



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Waag

The city's oldest surviving gatehouse dates from the city walls of 1488. After the city expanded, it became the public weigh house for farmers coming into town with the produce. It's also been home to executions and various guilds. Rembrandt painted his two anatomy lesson paintings for the Guild of Surgeons which was based here.

Now the Waag houses the Society for Old and New Media which is (and I quote) "a knowledge institute operating on the cutting edge of culture and technology in relation to society, education, government and industry....The interplay of technology and culture is the driving force of all Waag Society's activities."

Well, it has a great café terrace anyway.

Nieuwmarkt 4
website



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Waterlooplein

Market, mainly selling clothes (old, new and army surplus) with hippy junk and general bric a brac. If the fashion is for old tracksuits, every stall will be selling them. But there are some real second-hand gems to be found.

Waterlooplein



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Weather

Pretty much the same as all of north western Europe. Lots of rain and if you are lucky, some sunshine in the summer. June has the most hours on sun on average, with October and November the rainiest months. The November storms can be pretty spectacular. We haven't had much frost in recent years, so there hasn't been any skating on the canals. But if that Siberian wind starts to blow it can be hideously cold.



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Webcams

We are not talking sex industry here. But for the voyeurs in you, here are some Amsterdam webcams.

Views over the harbour and waterfront

Schiphol airport

Zuidas business centre

hairdresser Kinki

VU University campus

Outside Madame Tussauds

I'm happy to add webcam links and if any of these don't work, please let me know.



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Westerkerk

Built by Hendrick de Keyser and still in use for Sunday services and royal weddings.

Prinsengracht 281
website



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Western Islands

Amsterdam's three western islands are the Bickers, Prinsen and Realeneiland. They were created in the early 17th century for warehousing. Many of the warehouses have now been converted into flats.

Bickerseiland still has a few traces of its boat building past and Galgenstraat, on Prinseneiland was where the gallows were situated.

The open view to the IJ from Zandhoek (once home to the sand market and now a very pretty row of 17th century houses) has now been largely blocked off by a huge development of smart flats - pretty out of proportion from this side but impressive from the water front.

If you can find someone to rent you a boat, the western islands still contain parts of what I would call unspoiled Amsterdam - little pockets of anarchy.



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What's On

www.underwateramsterdam.com It's all there, it's easy to use and it's in English.

There is also a free English-language cultural magazine Amsterdam Weekly which has listings, small ads, and articles.

The DutchNews.nl website also has a what's on section, recommended for its film reviews.



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Wheelchairs

Amsterdam is not a a very wheelchair-friendly city. If fact, with all those cobbles, uneven pavements and bike lanes, it must be pretty impossible in the centre. I've just done a quick websurf on rolstoelgebruikers (wheelchair users) and all the hits seem to be telling me about the lack of wheelchair access. For example, if you want to visit Madame Tussauds you have to phone and let them know first - that's if you can manoeuvre your wheelchair over those bloody cobbles in the first place.



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Wildlife

Urban foxes in Westerpark and Zuid, bright blue wood lice in our back garden, ring-tailed parakeets squeaking all over the city, who needs to visit the zoo?



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Willem Barents

The real and unsung hero of artic exploration. Lost his life searching for the fabled northeast passage to Asian riches. Barents was born on the island of Terschelling but it was Amsterdam city council which funded his disasterous third voyage. That led to Barents and his crew of 16 spending an artic winter on Novaya Zemlya.

Wikipedia has more on his life.



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Willet Holthuysen museum

A magnificent mansion built in 1685, now open to the public. It's rooms are stuffed with treasures from the collection of its last owners, Sandrina Holthuysen and Abraham Willet who died childless in the 19th century and left the house to the state. My favourites are the dining room, set for a magnificent banquet, and the kitchen where the work was done.

Herengracht 605

www.willetholthuysen.nl



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Working hours

The Dutch work fewer hours on average than any other European nation, says national statistics office CBS. They have six weeks holiday (31 days off and eight public holidays), a shorter working week (36.7 hours) and more part-time work than their European neighbours. Aren't we lucky!



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World Press Photo

An Amsterdam-based photographic institution with a mission 'to encourage high professional standards in photojournalism and to promote a free and unrestricted exchange of information' on the website.

The annual show of prize winners is always held in the Oude Kerk in the late spring.



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Yab Yum

An upmarket brothel closed down by the council in January 2008 because its owner has dodgy connections - according to the council at least. It had a very discrete exterior on the Singel - just an oversized lantern outside the front door.



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Zeedijk

One of the oldest streets in the city, the Zeedijk (sea dyke) dates from the early 1300s and traces the route of the old sea wall. One of the two wooden-fronted houses still standing can be seen at no 1. In the 1970s and early 80s it was a scary street full of junkies and shops selling strips of silver paper and lemons. The city council has invested millions in the clean-up. Today it is good for Chinese restaurants, and home to Amsterdam's only Buddist temple.



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Zuiderbad

The place for early morning swimming if you like ploughing up and down and pretending you are getting fit. When the building was first opened in 1898, this was the Velox cycle school, complementing the sporty atmosphere of the Museumplein. In 1912 it became the Zuiderbad, one of the oldest swimming pools in the country. It was threatened with demolition in the 1980s but those early morning swimmers - who include some pretty influential people - managed to keep it open and make sure it was renovated.

Hobbemastraat 26



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Zuiderkerk

The Zuiderkerk, by Henrick de Keyser (again!) was built in 1603, the first Calvinist church to be built in the city after the Alteration. It was deconsecrated in 1929 and is now used to stage exhibitions about new housing developments. The new (social) housing which surrounds was built in the mid 1980s, reflecting the original street patterns and church yard.

Zuiderkerkhof 72



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