Amsterdam & Noord Holland History

Amsterdam... land of water and land, history and culture, coupled with modern 'liberties' and lifestyles. Our holiday here was a mixture of highs and lows, some things we absolutely loved, and other things made us feel very uncomfortable. I guess this can be said of most cities in the world, as there is good and bad everywhere, but for us, we had never encountered this type of element before.

We neither loved nor hated it. But we are glad we went.

What appealed to us was the lapping of the waters as our canal boat gently steered down the canal, watching the towering, skinny buildings on either side of us. Watching the young lady sunbathing on the roof of her river-boat; the young man beating his dust-filled carpet with a rod; the young girl curled up on the windowsill overlooking the canal, engrossed in the novel she was reading.

It offers, to the viewer and visitor, an intimate glimpse into the life of Amsterdam and is very special.

StayOkay are indeed great hostels to stay at: clean, good service, safe. There's one at the Vondel Park, the other is more downtown. If you're at the Vondelpark, shun the park itself at night, but walk a bit further towards the canalside square with a great Irish pub and a Hard Rock Café. For the history-greedy, make sure to visit the Anne Frank House. An unforgettable experience indeed.

When you're in Amsterdam, you should visit the Amsterdam ArenA. Home of AFC Ajax, one of the most succesfull soccerteams in the history of football!

Amsterdam is the greatest city (until I visited Toronto) in the whole wide world, according to me! It's nice and bustling, though quiet and soft. Maybe it reminds me of home - it's close to water, the pretty buildings and the street cars in the middle of the road. It seems like an old fashioned Stockholm! But Amsterdam comes alive in a whole different way at night. There's the Red Light District, but also just in the city, like Leidseplein or by the Central Station there's plenty of clubs, coffee shops, vending machines (for that drunken snack) and people out and about. It's busy and nice, I even walked home, for almost an hour and it felt safe and conforting. The people are friendly, you see English here and there, and I've even learned that Dutch is not that different from Swedish so I've been practicing and readin signs and menues, it's not going that bad!
If you want an all round experience, visit Amsterdam. There's culture, night life and history all in one. You'll never forget it and you'll always long back.

Amsterdam is a really lovely city and seems to be the only place that Americans have ever heard of in The Netherlands. So, check it out walk around(and not just the Red light District or in nd out of Coffee Shops) there is beautiful architecture andsome interesting cultural places like Rijkmusuem. And I know no one seems to ahve heard of it but if you visit while the Heineken Experience is still closed than you should check out House of Bols here is a link for info: http://www.houseofbols.nl/index.asp

It costs ten euros and is totally worth it(i'm very cheap and very poor and I would totally pay it again) It has an a musuem with the history of bols and there is even a Rembrant there(I won't tell ya why). It is also set up to stimulate all your senses then at the end it tells oyu what cocktail to order based on your personality. You get a print out and then your cocktail upstairs ina  cool bar. Also, if you ask a lot of questions they will let you taste test the different flavors. The House of Bols is across the way from the Van Gogh Musuem so once you get sick of the crowds there you need to go across the way and check it out. It is still nrelatively new so the crowds are still pretty small.... They won't be once word spreads. I have seen and done pretty much all the touristy and non touristy stuff in Amsterdam and this is still one of my favorite things I have done there. Can not recomend it highly enough. ps.... there is a lil side room off the bar where you can film yourself trying to do your best Tom Cruise from Cocktails moves...and then email it to your friends :)