Open Amsterdam Livejournal Community

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 19:52:26 GMT

My husband and I will be in Amsterdam on his birthday. Does anyone have any ideas on special things to do? We are open-minded and in our late 20s.

Salon Deco sounds like fun to us (but it may be too late to make reservations). Any impressions--good or bad--from that place?

Thank you!

Cheapotel

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 16:03:39 GMT

Could anyone recommend a cheap, not-terrible hotel in Amsterdam for a stay in September? We are at a loss finding one because there's a big conference when we are there. Many thanks!

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 15:21:59 GMT

Sky over Amsterdam

River Amstel

Hem Museum

Begijn Hof

Stedelijk museum

At the station centraal

Kerk Heilige Nicolaas

bike parking :)

Woodcuter

Mon, 15 Aug 2005 04:39:35 GMT

p.s.
I took the picture in Amsterdam

Mon, 15 Aug 2005 04:36:53 GMT

I'm too lazy to look it up, what does my icon mean?

-A Stupid American

Fri, 22 Jul 2005 12:23:04 GMT

Hello there, I'm from the UK and will be travelling to Amsterdam soon. My passions are fashion and art, among other things, so any good shops/shopping areas or art galleries you could recommend would be greatly appreciated.

Also (and this might be a rather ignorant question) how can you tell whether a cafe sells cannabis or not, just from the outside? I don't smoke cannabis myself, and would prefer to sit in areas where people aren't smoking it near me. Sorry if that's a silly question, but the last time I visited Amsterdam was when I was very young, and so don't remember much!

Thanks in advance, Nat (:

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 22:22:08 GMT

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 07:11:38 GMT

owwkeey....en waar was dat goed voor?

Fri, 24 Jun 2005 17:49:16 GMT

Plastic Surgery or Plastic Bottles?
http://www.pop-campaign.co.uk/

(x-posted)

Hallo!

Tue, 07 Jun 2005 22:58:31 GMT

I didnt know if this was the right place to ask - just tell me if this community isnt suitable for this kind of request.
I'm going to Amsterdam 10 - 14 August, and I'm currently looking for a hotel. After consulting hotels.com and tripadvisor.com, I'm tossing up between the Amsterdam House Hotel Eureka ('s-Gravelandseveer 3-4), the NH Barbizon Palace (Prins Hendrikkade 59-72), and the Hotel Artemis Amsterdam (John M. Keynesplein 2).
The Barbizon is the most expensive.. Its supposed to be quite swanky, but then I read that it was overrated, whereas the Eureka seems quite friendly and cosy. I dont have much of an idea about the Artemis. It looks quite modern, but I wasnt sure whether the picture I was shown was of a standard room, or deluxe, so a tad wary.
Whats most important to me and my boyfriend, who'll be joining me, is its proximity to the city centre and the heart of Amsterdam. We dont mind a short tram journey but we'd rather everything was roughly within walking distance.
The Eureka is supposedly next to the floating flower market *shrug*. I'm worried the Eureka and the Artemis would be too far out.
Obviously, we'd like the hotel to be as nice as possible too ;)
Any opinions on either of these hotels, or advice, is gratefully received! Thanks for reading...

Fri, 13 May 2005 07:21:41 GMT

Stukje over de EU grondwet.

Vele politici in ons land worden, naarmate de datum van 1 juni nadert, steeds
zenuwachtiger. Want op die dag zal het allereerste referendum plaatsvinden dat
ooit in Nederland is gehouden. We mogen dan voor of tegen de zogenaamde Europese
grondwet stemmen. Het wordt onze eerste maar ook laatste kans om überhaupt iets
te kiezen betreffende de EU.

Na de catastrofe van de Tweede Wereldoorlog
was het begrijpelijk dat men zocht naar een politieke constructie die ernstige
conflicten binnen Europa voorgoed onmogelijk zou maken. Via de Europese
Gemeenschap voor Kolen en Staal in 1951 en de Europese Economische Gemeenschap
(EEG) van 1957 ontstond de Europese Unie in 1993 waarvan het machtscentrum zich
in Brussel bevindt.

Evenwel begint deze EU het karakter te krijgen van
een soort totalitaire staat waar het begrip ’democratie’ steeds onduidelijker
wordt. Bovendien ontwikkelde zich een soort EU-elite van politici en hoge
ambtenaren die aan de wensen en ideeën van de gewone bevolking eigenlijk geen
boodschap meer hebben. Die euro-elite waartoe ook velen van onze politici
behoren, is er dan ook alles aan gelegen om iedereen, dus ook u en mij, zo
onwetend en zo dom mogelijk te houden. En dat betekent zo min mogelijk
objectieve informatie en zoveel mogelijk door de overheid gecontroleerde
propaganda.

Voor het eerst trad deze kwalijke tendens aan het daglicht
bij de door vrijwel geen enkele Nederlander gewenste invoering van de Europese
eenheidsmunt, de euro. De reclame die er via de pers en vooral via de tv voor
werd gemaakt, lag op het geestelijk niveau van een zwakzinnige. In het bijzonder
onderscheidden zich toen hierbij de ministers Wim Kok en Gerrit Zalm en de
toenmalige directeur van de Europese Centrale Bank, Wim Duisenberg. Op
schaamteloos infantiele wijze debiteerden ze de grootste
nonsens.

Oorlog

Voort dobberend op de kennelijk geestverruimende
effecten van de euro zag onze euro-elite de pan-Europese heilstaat al aan de
multiculturele einder opdoemen. En het belangrijkste was dat er nu nóóit meer
oorlog zou kunnen komen. De eenheidsmunt zou daarvoor de beste garantie zijn. In
februari 1996 uitte de toenmalige Duitse kanselier Helmut Kohl deze op niets
berustende stelling toen hij een eredoctoraat kreeg aan de Katholieke
Universiteit van Leuven in België. En warempel, onze eigen minister van
Justitie, Piet Hein Donner, zag veertien dagen geleden kans deze enormiteit nog
eens te herhalen. Als we tegen zouden stemmen bij het referendum over de
Europese grondwet, zou er weer oorlog komen, zei hij. Kennelijk was het iedereen
ontgaan dat in het verleden talrijke bevolkingsgroepen elkaar hebben afgeslacht
niettegenstaande het feit dat ze dezelfde munteenheid hadden. Om maar enkele
voorbeelden te noemen: de Amerikanen, tijdens de Burgeroorlog tussen 1861 en
1865, de Rode- en Wit-Russen, tijdens de revolutie van 1917, de Spanjaarden in
de Spaanse Burgeroorlog van 1937 en heel recentelijk de Joegoslaven die elkaar
tussen 1991 en 1999 naar vermogen uitroeiden.

Maar blind voor de feiten
speelden de Nederlandse politici het klaar de grootste monetaire ingreep in 700
jaar te verrichten zonder dat ook maar iemand er iets over te zeggen had gehad.
Dat was geheel in strijd met onze eigen grondwet. De Tweede Kamer was door Wim
Kok het zwijgen opgelegd en de Eerste Kamer had de invoering van de euro
gereduceerd tot niet meer dan een onbeduidend hamerstuk.

Zelden was de
democratie meer met voeten getreden. Maar inmiddels weten we beter. De bittere
waarheid haalde de leugen snel in. De euro heeft ons meer dan elf miljard gulden
gekost, de prijzen zijn de laatste drie jaar vrijwel verdubbeld, de economie is
niet verbeterd en steeds meer mensen vervallen tot armoede of gaan failliet. De
landen die niet bij de EU zijn aangesloten, doen het beter dan
wij.

Manipuleren

En nu wordt ons wederom iedere relevante
informatie onthouden, want hoe dommer een volk wordt gehouden, des te
gemakkelijker is het voor carrièrebeluste politici te manipuleren. Vrijwel
niemand heeft enig idee wat die eurogrondwet voorstelt. Onze regering heeft ons
slechts voorzien van een gratis grondwetkrantje dat geheel gevuld is met slecht
leesbare overheidspropaganda, om maar vooral ’ja’ te stemmen. Maar in feite
leveren we dan ons laatste beetje identiteit in en geven we ons laatste restje
zelfbeschikking uit handen.

Niemand minder dan de befaamde Russische
politicus Michail Gorbatsjov vergeleek de Europese pseudodemocratie met de
vroegere situatie in zijn eigen land. Hij noemde het raadselachtig waarom
West-Europa probeert het sovjetsysteem, bestaande uit één centraal machtscentrum
en vele ondergeschikte staten, weer in te voeren. Dit alles is te lezen in de
thans overal opduikende kritische literatuur die ons unaniem waarschuwt voor de
’weg met ons’-politiek. Deze is in de jaren zestig gepredikt door alles wat
links was, maar die duikt thans onder Europese vlag weer op.

Euroramp

Om echt te weten wat er speelt, is er onder meer een groot artikel in
Elsevier van 16 april jongstleden te lezen met de titel ’Waarom nee beter is dan
ja’. Ook was er reeds het succesvolle boek van Martin Dessing: ’De euroramp
treft ons allemaal’ (uitgave Aspekt, Soesterberg). Dat is thans reeds aan de
derde druk toe. En nu is juist verschenen het handzame boekje getiteld ’Samen
zwak’ met vijftien pleidooien van uiteenlopende auteurs tegen de Europese
grondwet. Het is uitgegeven door Polpam (Amsterdam) voor de Edmund Burke
Stichting in Den Haag (ISBN 90.8591.451.5).

Het was de in 2002
vermoorde politicus Pim Fortuyn die reeds in 1996 in zijn boek ’Zielloos Europa’
(uitgeverij Bruna) de visionaire woorden schreef: ’Ik houd van Europa. Ik houd
van zijn veelheid aan volkeren, culturen, weersomstandigheden, talen en mensen.
Ik haat soms de euro-elite in zijn verwaten achteloosheid. Kortom, ik wil een
Europa van de mensen, van de menselijke maat. Een Europa van u en van mij’.

Vrijwel dezelfde mening heeft thans SP-leider Jan Marijnissen. Kennelijk
komen zowel wijlen Fortuyn, Gorbatsjov als Marijnissen ondanks hun geheel
verschillende politieke achtergronden maar gestuurd door hun intellect en hun
gevoel voor democratie tot dezelfde conclusie, namelijk stem ’NEE’, voor het te
laat is.

Ik hou van Amsterdam!

Thu, 12 May 2005 00:06:43 GMT

I just came back from Amsterdam on Saturday. *sigh* I really
didn't wanna come back to crappy America. Being in Holland
reminded me how lame the US is. Our government is so fucked,
everyone is stressed and in a hurry and angry and depressed.
Arg, it's just not a happy place. Everyone here is so ignorant.
I'm not proud to be an American. When I went to Holland I was
afraid they would all hate us cuz we're American. I didn't know
how they would act but everyone was so nice and friendly. It was
really neat to sit and talk to local people about anything and
everything. Definitely the most amazing place I've ever been.
I read that the Dutch don't feel guilt which is really awesome.
I'd like to move to Holland someday. My boyfriend and I talked
about living in Haarlem since it's not a huge expensive tourist
place really. Anyways, I'm just rambling but I love Amsterdam!!
To those of you that live there, I am so jealous and you are so
lucky. <3 Oh yeah, the first day back in America was pretty
crappy. At my job, everyone is rude and in a huge hurry and
talking about people behind their backs. Arg. DAMN THIS PLACE!!

im no longer moderator of this community :)

Sat, 23 Apr 2005 22:19:24 GMT

ah well... easy come, easy go :) somethings just arent meant to be :) take care!

hopefully the current owner of this community will take things further...

Hello all

Fri, 01 Apr 2005 13:35:30 GMT

I'm trying to find a place to rent (or sub-let, whatever) in Amsterdam for the month of July. Is there a convenient place to search for this online?

places to visit

Tue, 29 Mar 2005 19:00:50 GMT

i'll be in Amsterdam this weekend with my 5 years-old son. What places would you recommend to visit?

thanks in advance :)

PS: just returned from Amsterdam. Was so warm, sunny and flowering (especially after below-zero Moscow)!!! Thank you all for advices :)

Sat, 19 Mar 2005 21:45:56 GMT

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 22:26:49 GMT

I hope i can post this here, but i'm trying to get members :P

I 've just made a new community. This community is for people who are going to live in a other country for a long-or short period, or who are lioving in a other country right now. We can talk about experiences, house renting, what to expect, meeting new foreign people etc. So, do you think i'm talking to you?? please join! :) city_stranger

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 19:13:25 GMT

Come Join Lifesabitch_

A community for Dutch members only!

Huis zoekt serieuze betrouwbare oppasser

Sat, 05 Mar 2005 11:41:14 GMT

van1 mei tot eind november doe ik mijn appartement in onderhuur.

-Gemeubileerd, 36 m2, icl. eigen keuken en douce, ligging: wijk: Venserpolder, Stadsdeel Zuidoost, stad: Amsterdam, 5-10 minuten lopen vanaf groot winkelcentrum (Amsterdamse Poort), 2 minuten lopen naar metrohalte Strandvliet Arena, 1 minuut lopen naar halte nachtbus naar en vanaf am. centraal en leidseplein (en bussen richting haarlem, amsterdam oost en schiphol overdag, welke 7 dagen in de week rijdt. 1 metro halte naar treinstation Duivendrecht en 1 metro halte naar treinstation Bijlmer. huur: 400 € incl. geen vaste telefoon. Verantwoordelijk iemand gevraagd. 1e maand 400 € borg.

Je woont in een hele rustige, veilige en goed onderhouden wijk. De appartementen complexen zijn maximaal 4 hoog. Je woont dan ook op de 4e verdieping. Daarbij woon je tegen de Amsterdam Arena in waardoor de wijk goed wordt onderhouden door de gemeente. kabel tv, videorecorder, koelkast, combi magnetron, alles is aanwezig. Er wonen hier veel surinamers dus je kunt genieten van hun heerlijke keuken, en natuurlijk ook de meeste exotische groenten fruit en ander eten gewoon in de Konmar supermarkt kopen!!! (AH en Vomar ook in de buurt) Binnen 15 minuten met de metro zit je bij Amsterdam Centraal. pref. geen-roker, pref. vrouw, geen inschrijving mogelijk!

Zoek je voor 6 maanden een huis in Amsterdam, ben je serieus, betrouwbaar en verantwoordelijk en weet je ervoor te zorgen dat ik normaal terug in het huis kan komen zonder ruzie met mn buren, mail me dan! sidevi@tiscali.nl

Thu, 20 Jan 2005 19:29:58 GMT

i am going to be drifting into amsterdam in march. i was wondering if anyone has ever squated in amsterdam or has any squating tips while in amsterdam? anything will help

decisions..

Tue, 18 Jan 2005 22:48:12 GMT

it's been a while since anyone has posted on here, but i'll give it a try.
i am planning on attending europe in midmarch with my mom, her bf, and one of my friends.
i have to chose between amsterdam, paris, and milan.
i think i am leaning more towards amsterdam(which is why i am writing in here) but i need information about amsterdam to prove to my mom and her bf that we should go there and not to the other 2 locations.
does anyone have any input ? anything would be greatly appreciated.
thanks.

albert cuyp?

Fri, 26 Nov 2004 04:06:02 GMT

Does anyone on this list frequent the Albert Cuyp market?

Ah, I miss that place. I remember walking down the streets and picking up a harring sandwich, and a smoked mackerel for later, munching on the sandwich as I make my trip to the kaaswinkel for some guitenkaas, and then to the veggie, fruit and bread stands for my weekly groceries. And once in a while, I'd pick up some clothes too, stop for a nice smoke at a coffeeshop on my way home. gezellig!

I was just wondering if there's a vendor on the Cuyp who still sells black calgary stretch jeans? He used to be on the south side of the street, a little west of sarphatipark. It's a particular brand and style I haven't found anywhere else, and I really miss em.

If you see the booth and happen to come across some Stretch, Black, Calgary Brand, size 32x32, please pick one or two for me - I'll happily reimburse you for your troubles!

Amsterdam visit

Tue, 23 Nov 2004 07:05:20 GMT

I recently traveled to places in Western Europe - Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Berlin, and Cologne. Here is a detailed travelogue of my experiences there. I do not intend this to be a complete comprehensive travel guide - I didn't spend enough time in each of the places to write one, besides, there are many good travel guides available. I will instead try to focus on my own thoughts and experiences. Here are my experiences in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam

To a lot of people who haven't been there, Amsterdam is synonymous with coffee houses legally selling drugs and red light district. I was naively expecting an ultra-liberal society with this forwardness showing on streets. My first 5 minute walk in the Dam area didn't disappoint me - I came across more buildings with titles beginning with "sex" (sex museum, sex-o-rama bar, sex-store, etc) than I can hope to anywhere in a US. So, my first long chat with a local Amsterdamer disappointed me - I realized that she (and most Dutch people in general) have similar priorities in life than any of us, and don't even notice or think about things that grabs the attention of tourists!

I landed on Friday evening keen on seeing things I had heard or read about (no, I don't the pun here--its not my fault that "red" and past tense "read" are homophones). Amsterdam's famed red-light district is a long street with many small alleys all lined up with houses with glass walls on the first floor - behind the glass are bikini or lingerie clad women posing, looking enticingly at all the men passing by. This pattern is broken by peep houses and small pizza or falafel joints. Surprisingly, the area still has a very classy feel to it. Even at 3 or 4am, there are lots of tourists walking around - even couples or entire families! The girls and the peep-house shows' promoters standing on the streets really mean business-- try talking about rates, and if they sense you are haggling about price without being serious, they can get nasty with you. I tried that with a show promoter, and as I left after the price negotiation, feigning dissatisfaction, he yelled behind me: "You Americans talk so much about how you are doing good to the world, but can't spend a little money for the girls?". I did not know how to respond, besides I am not American, so I didn't feel it my responsibility to respond. Instead, I hurried away without turning back.

I decided to move on to something more familiar. I ventured to a more popular night-life area, and entered what from outside seemed like a typical Dutch brown bar with. I was surprised (pleasantly, I think) to notice myself to be the only guy there, and was only beginning to get comfortable with this observation when a dressed-in-all-black girl walked towards me and said, "Will you like to buy me a drink?" "Err....", I was fumbling for answer when she added, "Only 55 euros".
"What? 55 euros for a drink?"
"And sex", she added, "or if you want to sleep with me, its 300 euros".
"But I am here just to buy drinks".
"Then you are the wrong place", she reprimanded me, pointing to the door.
It was clear I should leave. As I opened the door, the guard rebuked me for wasting their time, giving me a reason to start a mini-argument and get the satisfaction of wasting more of his time. Walking away, I noticed the sign "Paradise Sex Bar" in red neon.

Next, I landed in a real club. The familiarity encouraged me to try things I haven't even done in Boston. I approached an attractive looking Dutch girl if she wanted to dance with me.
"I have this luggage", she said pointing to the suitcase she had.
After some talk about her travel plans and my own, I suggested leaving the suitcase in the cloak room and hitting the dance floor.
"I don't have the money", she replied.
Anyone with "How to approach girls in bars 101" knowledge would have known it best to move on. I didn't, and few minutes later, I was sneaking out of the club alone having lost about 10 euros and whatever remained of my self-respect. I decided to call it night.

I did fairly well the next morning in recovering - I rented out a bike (by the way, the best way to see Amsterdam), and spent the day biking about admiring the beauty of the place, and doing the more universally accepted civilized things - visiting museums (ok, I must admit - I visited sex museum and torture museums too) and a diamond factory.

As someone living in United States, I was surprised by the Americanization of Amsterdam (and as I was to discover later, even if to a slightly lesser degree, all of the Europe). Burger King, McDonald's, Subway and Starbucks are just about everywhere, and popular among the young people. And then, there is Hollywood. Maybe George W. Bush can get some tips from the the corporate giants and Hollywood on promoting "American ideals" in the rest of the world - they are likely to come up with better suggestions than Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz.

In the evening, I went to a Dutch coffee house-- it was to be my first time trying out weed. The coffee house had a separate table manned by a police officer (not in uniform) for these substances. As a starter, I got something light. I left the place feeling pretty sane and in control, though what happened immediately after suggests I may have been wrong.

On my way somewhere later, I inspected my pouch and didn't see my passport. I remembered using it earlier in the day, so it had to be on me somewhere. I searched my backpack - no, not there either. I was beginning to get worried - without the passport, I was screwed. I probably dropped or forgot it somewhere - perhaps, at the museum when using my credit card to pay for the ticket, or the coffee house when using it as my ID. I went to the coffee house and asked the guard if he asked me for my ID before entering. "You look older than 18, so I don't think I did", he replied. I searched inside, and some other places I had been that day, but didn't find it. Tense and upset, I went to bed early.

Next day, in between my trips to the museums and police station, the tired hungry and unhappy me waiting for my food order in a restaurant remembered about the bike rental - I looked them up in the yellow book, called them, and realized I had deposited it there.

Isn't it strange - there was me intending to squeeze every minute of my time during the trip, being always serious about what to do next when things were going to the plan, now far more ecstatic when my entire plan had been thrown off, and a day wasted? Maybe, we all need some troubles in life to enjoy the pleasure of thinking about how bad the situation could have been but is not when we get overcome those troubles.

I am digressing. Let me come back to Amsterdam and Dutch people, but still continue the philosophical meanderings. Yes, the Dutch are generally tall, blonde, blue-eyed, and handsome, yes, but there is more - they challenge our perception of societal norms, trying out ideas more liberating and trusting of their citizenry and people. Theirs was the first modern republic back in 16th century, and even today, they have legalized that are tabooed in many other parts of the world, and presenting a living example of an advanced and generally happy society.

To read about my experiences in other places, read here.

Tue, 16 Nov 2004 00:20:40 GMT

snel question
hebben any winkels around town Vice Magazine?