If you’re staying in an apartment in Amsterdam, you’re bound to be fascinated by the way the houses in the centre of town look. Now that you’ve come that one step closer to the real Amsterdam, you could do with a visit to a museum called Het Grachtenhuis, located at Herengracht 386.   Translations catering to tourists […]

The Anne Frank house is of course a must for every tourist visiting Amsterdam. Even people who have visited the museum before often find that going twice or three times is highly rewarding because the exhibitions tend to be particularly successful in relating to a modern day audience.   The organisation behind the museum also […]

So I was planning to tell you all about the new Eurostar service to Amsterdam. But since it’s not going underway until near enough 2017, let me couch the subject into a rant about the English language skills of the Dutch. When you visit Amsterdam as an English person, you will be astonished at the ease […]

Donna Tartt is a bit of a sensation the world over, due to the two best-sellers she managed to pen during the last twenty or so years. Off late, the fortunes of this famous author have started to affect Amsterdam, because the city is where her third novel, The Goldfinch, is partly set.   Tartt, […]

So here’s me telling you about gyms in Amsterdam. I am the last person to do so if my personal experience is anything to go by as I am a novice to gyms. I hate the sweat and the supposed cleanliness of these places where the air alone makes me want to vomit. I prefer […]

Fancy a spot of diamond shopping in Amsterdam? I am not kidding; the Dutch capital happens to be the second most important diamond cutting and polishing capitals of the world, competing very hard with Antwerp in Belgium. Amsterdam’s two main diamond factories, Coster Diamonds and Gassan Diamonds are world renowned as is the infamous ‘Amsterdam Cut’ which […]

Historically, the Netherlands is known more for its painters than for its literary talent. Most tourists come to see works of the likes of Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Vermeer, Jan Steen and Van Gogh rather than to soak up the exploits of the Dutch literary elite. That makes the writers that you can discover into real […]

The Amsterdam Vondelpark is known for its attraction for performance artists of all kinds. In recent years, many people have also started using the park as their venue of choice for conducting tuition in every conceivable art or sport. You see inline skate instructors offering lessons in slalom, line dancers hoisting pupils on rope, there’s […]

Slow food in a fast city like Amsterdam sounds unnatural. But of course, nothing could be more natural than grub, grown and/or procured locally, eaten in most cases on the spot. Various slow food outlets are receiving rave reviews in the press and that’s not only because they happen to operate in a popular niche […]

The Dutch are a seafaring nation. Hence the dykes of course. And the Dutch also have a thing going on with fish. Herring in particular. This sushi-type fish is eaten in a way that is peculiar and warrants explaining. It’s called ‘haring happen’ and what happens is this; a Dutchman or Dutchwoman will get on […]