Come and discover Amsterdam thanks to the highly discounted last minute offers for this great duplex apartment. For more info on the apartment http://amsterdamduplexapartment.com.

We have availability from June 14-18 and July 18-23, upto 25% discount! So choose your dates and inquire for your price on http://www.amsterdamduplexapartment.com/?qa_faqs=offer-discounts

Hope to see you in Amsterdam

Amsterdam Duplex Vacation Rental Apartment

The Tulip. Wild and tempting

en.dehortus.nl

Nowadays we know the tulip as one of the most appealing flowers on earth. A real Dutch flower, too, although its origin lies far from here. Since the second half of the seventeenth century the tulip was scattered over Europe and at the end of that century it rooted thoroughly in the soil and the society of the Low Countries. From that moment on, Holland and the cultivated tulip are one.

The origins
Tulips are bulbs from western Eurasia. Their natural habitat stretches along a climatic belt running from Spain and Morocco to the Western Himalayan ranges. Most wild species are found in the Caucasus and in the Central Asian Pamir Alay and Tien Shan mountains.
Most species are adapted to climates with hot, dry summers, and severe winters; spring is the only possible growing season. To survive drought and cold, tulips hibernate and aestivate underground. Bulbs can better withstand freezing and desiccation; and with every inch below ground, fluctuations in temperature and humidity decrease, as compared to that of the atmosphere.
As a result of this strategy, tulips are invisible for nine months of the year. In the remaining three months, the life cycle must be completed: from the appearance of the first green leaves to flowering, seed set and the production of clonal offshoots (lateral bulbils). For a few short weeks in spring, the mountain slopes of Central Asia are spectacularly swathed in the reds or yellows of wild tulip blooms.

Original Page: http://en.dehortus.nl/program/tulips

Come and discover Amsterdam thanks to the highly discounted last minute offers for this great duplex apartment. For more info on the apartment http://amsterdamduplexapartment.com.

We have availability from May 2 till May 31, upto 25% discount sont choose your dates and inquire for your price on http://www.amsterdamduplexapartment.com/?qa_faqs=offer-discounts

Hope to see you in Amsterdam

Amsterdam Duplex Vacation Rental Apartment

Wim Crouwel – A Graphic Odyssey
http://Amsterdamduplexapartment.com

If you can’t get to Amsterdam over the next few weeks have a taste of great Dutch design in London

The Design Museum celebrates the prolific career of the Dutch graphic designer Wim Crouwel in this, his first UK retrospective. Regarded as one of the leading designers of the twentieth century, Crouwel embraced a new modernity to produce typographic designs that captured the essence of the emerging computer and space age of the early 1960s.

Spanning over 60 years, this exhibition will cover Crouwel’s rigorous design approach and key moments in his career including his work for design practice Total Design, the identity for the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, as well as his iconic poster, print, typography and lesser known exhibition design. The exhibition will explore Crouwel’s innovative use of grid-based layouts and typographic systems to produce consistently striking asymmetric visuals.

Family workshops
Loopy Letters and Futuristic Fonts
Sunday 10 April, 2pm – 4.30pm
Sunday 1 May, 2pm – 4.30pm
Details and booking on the workshops page

Poster Competition for 5 – 11 year olds
Design a Wim Crouwel inspired poster for the chance to win a goody bag.
Download competition details here.

Talks and Events

Working With Wim
Monday 9 May, 7.30pm, £15 / 7.50 members
Book now

Rick Poynor on Graphic Design the Netherlands
Monday 23 May, 7.30pm, £15 / 7.50 members
Book now

Pioneers of Industrial Culture with Wim Crouwel
Thursday 23 June, 7.30pm, £15 / 7.50 members
Book now

PechaKucha X Wim Crouwel
Friday 1 July, 7.30pm, £15 / 7.50 members
Book now

Design Overtime
April Font Night
Friday 1 April, 6 – 10pm, £7.50 in advance
Details and booking on the overtime page

Summer Party
Friday 1 July, 6 – 10pm, £7.50 in advance
Details and booking on the overtime page

Sunday Gallery Tours
17 April, 1.30 – 2pm
15 May, 1.30 – 2pm
19 June, 1.30 – 2pm
Curator or specialist led tours of the exhibtion.
No booking necessary.

Media Partner

Original Page: http://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/2011/wim-crouwel

Shared from Read It Later

70 years of Amsterdam in the picture

rnw.nl | Mar 18th 2011

Boys are dangling from a canalside railing, women are waltzing at a wedding party, Jewish traders display their modest wares on the Waterloo Square market. They're seen in pictures sharing the Amsterdam cityscape, past and present, as a backdrop.

Amsterdam's city archive is hosting an exhibition of 150 such photos showing the Dutch capital and its citizens, taken between 1935 and 2005. Many famous Amsterdam photographers are represented, such as Maria Austria, Paul Huf, Philip Mechanicus and Sem Presser.
 

Original Page: http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/70-years-amsterdam-picture

iamsterdam.com | Apr 3rd 2011

See the sights for free!
During National Museum Weekend, more than 500 museums nationwide throw open their doors to the public free of charge or offer heavily discounted entrance. Hundreds of museums also organise additional activities and events to add the icing to the Museum Weekend cake.

Dutch heritage
This annual event is the perfect opportunity to delve deep into the country's rich cultural heritage, and with more than twenty museums participating in Amsterdam alone, a weekend packed to bursting point is guaranteed!

Original Page: http://www.iamsterdam.com/en/productions/national-museum-weekend/c7f62ea0-dced-2c87-a7ceb52430d25bf1

Vacationing in Amsterdam

by JAMES CARELESS, montrealgazette.com
March 26th 2011

Trying to define Amsterdam in terms of 10 fun things to do will not be easy. This gorgeous, historical and legendary maritime city in the Netherlands offers so much more! Still, first-time visitors need to know where to start, so here are 10 suggestions – given with the knowledge that, once you’ve arrived in Amsterdam, you will find much more to keep you entranced.

1) Some of the best fun you can have here is to wander around the old city , which is built around a series of canals. Not only is the landscape stunningly beautiful, but the bridges and well-tended buildings that line the canals are hundreds of years old. Many of the buildings have hoist beams sticking out from their gables, close to large windows or doors. These were designed for hauling furniture to the upper floors, thus avoiding the need to cart them up narrow staircases.

2) Speaking of canals , the Singel Flower Market is located here on floating barges. Founded back in 1862, it’s named for the Singel canal, on which it is located. Whatever your taste in flowers, you will find them here in abundance. Remember, Holland is the country that made tulips famous. There was a time, back in 1636, when tulips were selling for as much as $100,000 (in current dollars) per bulb. Like the dot-com bubble, the Tulip Craze soon collapsed, but Amsterdam remains one of the world’s signature locations for tulips and other kinds of flowers, year-round.

3) Unlike many cities , Amsterdam has succeeded in keeping its historic core alive with shops, restaurants and bars. Many of the oldest are known as “brown cafés.” These are cozy and popular local pubs, called “brown” because of their wooden interiors and stains from generations of smokers. Reputedly the oldest is De Drie Fleschjes, whose name translates to The Three Little Bottles. Rumour has it that Rembrandt was among those who attended the grand opening in 1650. Not much has changed since then; 52 wooden vats line the walls and sand on the wood floor makes for an authentic feel. Distiller Bootz took it over in 1816 and De Drie Fleschjes remains the company’s samplinghouse for Dutch liqueurs and gins.

4) Speaking of restaurants , “the Jordaan neighbourhood is really nice for walking around and full of little restaurants and bars/ cafés,” says John Heintz, a Canadian schoolmate of mine who now teaches architecture at the Delft University of Technology (Holland). “One of our favorites is Café ‘t Smalle, Egelantiersgracht 12. It’s a really cute, really small place, with a nice little room in back above the bar. You have to climb the steepest spiral staircase you’ll ever see, though.”

5) Another restaurant worth mentioning is D’Vijff Vlieghen (The Five Flies). Consisting of nine rooms located in five interconnected 17th-century townhouses, the Five Flies combines authentic history (there are real Rembrandts inside) with great food – and star appeal. Just check the guest book: You’ll see the signatures of Walt Disney, Orson Welles, Bruce Springsteen, Kirk Douglas, Tyra Banks, Dmitry Medvedev, Esther Williams, Anne Baxter, Marcel Marceau, Samantha Fox, Paul Stanley and Mick Jagger.

6) Amsterdam is a city of museums , filled with items that are truly worth seeing. One of these is the Van Gogh Museum, featuring iconic paintings such as Sunflowers and Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries-dela-Mer. A second must-see museum is the Rijksmuseum with its astounding collection of Rembrandts. Of these, the famous and rather large Night Watch – also known as the Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch – is worth the trip. What makes the Night Watch special is that it was, in essence, a class photo of a local militia. To add drama to the scene, Rembrandt laid it out as a company preparing to march off to war, rather than standing stiffly in rows trying not to smile.

7) While in Amsterdam , the locals – upon hearing that I was a tourist – always asked me the same thing: “Have you been to the redlight district?” This is Amsterdam’s district of legalized (and regulated) prostitution, in existence for centuries due to the constant influx of visiting sailors. Located in the old city, the district, known as De Wallen, is considered a prime tourist site – even for those just curious about its reputation. (If you do look around, watch out for pickpockets and know that you could lose your camera if you try to take photos.) By the way, I eventually figured out that the reason I kept getting asked if I’d visited the red-light district was not because I looked somehow morally suspect. Instead, the Dutch know that North Americans are scandalized by the idea of legalized prostitution. That’s why they have so much fun asking us if we’ve visited it yet: They like to see our reactions.

The Oude Kerk (Old Church) is in downtown old Amsterdam, in the red-light district. Dating back to 1306, the Oude Kerk is the city’s oldest consecrated church. For North Americans, wandering around a medieval church that is nearly 700 years old, yet is part of a living, breathing urbanscape, is a very unusual experience. So, too, is the graffiti carved into the pews and other wooden surfaces. I remember spotting one vandal’s name followed by the year he carved it: 1776. (After coming here, nothing back in Canada will ever seem “old” again.)

9) So much to see in Amsterdam! One of my favourite sights is the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky. Located in downtown Dam Square, across from the old Royal Palace, the Hotel Krasnapolsky was established by Polish tailor Adolf Wilhelm Krasnapolski in 1866. Eventually, he bought up 39 small houses and built the Hotel Krasnapolsky. Rated as a five-star hotel – and deservedly so – the ‘Kraz’ has many wonderful features. My personal favourite is the wrought iron-and-glass Winter Garden restaurant, which is essentially a giant greenhouse that is home to an excellent buffet breakfast.

10) Speaking of the Royal Palace , this 17th-century masterpiece -after 3½ years of restoration -is again open to the public. Originally built for the Amsterdam government, this palace was subsequently home to Louis Napoleon, who was made king of Holland for four short years by Napoleon Bonaparte (1806-1810). Afterwards, Prince William of Orange (later king) took over the palace as his Amsterdam residence. Today, it remains in the Dutch royal family. If you can’t get to Buckingham Palace to celebrate Prince William and Kate’s wedding this year, visiting the Royal Palace (Koninklijk Paleis) in Amsterdam is a good second choice.

So there you have it: Ten fun things to do in Amsterdam! For many more, go online at www. iamsterdam.com

WHERE TO GO

Ten sights worth seeing and websites that’ll tell you more

DE DRIE FLESCHJES

www.channels.nl/amsterdam/ flesche.html Gravenstraat 18 Reputedly the oldest “brown café” in town, its name translates to “The Three Little Bottles.”

CAFE ‘T SMALLE

www.t-smalle.nl/?sectiondrinken&page-Foto’s Egelantiersgracht 12 A popular spot in the Jordaan neighbourhood.

D’VIJFF VLIEGHEN

www.thefiveflies.com/en/Home Spuistraat 294-302 Historic eatery favoured by the stars, its name translates to “The Five Flies.”

RED-LIGHT DISTRICT

www.iamsterdam.com The famous -some would say infamous -legal (and regulated) prostitution zone that has become a tourist attraction.

OUDE KERK

www.iamsterdam.com Amsterdam’s oldest church; a living landmark.

VAN GOGH MUSEUM

www.vangoghmuseum.nl Paulus Potterstraat 7 Home to numerous masterpieces by PostImpressionist painter Vincent van Gogh, including the ubiquitous Sunflowers.

RIJKSMUSEUM

www.rijksmuseum.nl Jan Luijkenstraat 1 Home to a vast collection of art, including numerous paintings and etchings by Rembrandt van Rijn.

NH GRAND HOTEL KRASNAPOLSKY

www.nh-hotels.com Dam Square A venerable 5-star hotel worthy of its rank.

THE ROYAL PALACE

www.paleisamsterdam.nl Dam Square A chance to see how kings and queens really live! Just a 10-minute walk from Centraal Station.

AMSTERDAM’S CANALS

http: //www.iamsterdam.com The canals wrap around the old city like necklaces; you can’t miss them. Visit the Singel Flower Market, which can be found floating on barges in the Singel canal.

Original Page: http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/todays-paper/Vacationing%2BAmsterdam/4507388/story.html&ct=ga&cad=CAEQAhgAIAAoATAAOABA8M-77ARIAVgBYgVlbi1VUw&cd=c-Gz0g7Ovqs&usg=AFQjCNGEu4tQyw1U0a_oGP8rKYX8RIVRzQ

Thanks for the quick response to the last minute offers, now all weekends are fully booked. Bookings for May are flowing in, quickly block your dates http://goo.gl/tZAlW

The Rijksmuseum Schiphol, an annex of the Rijksmuseum located at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, celebrates the season with "Dutch Winters," an exhibition of 17th- and 19th-century works, on display through March 21.

http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=97c9bb628237803acd5fd5aa7f33a653

Thalys at a very special price
now visit Amsterdam 2 for the price of one, starting 1t 29euro
so invite your friends and come and stay with us

Eastern Docklands

A well-hidden and
surprising new area in Amsterdam is the Eastern docklands, situated
between the Central Station and Zeeburger Island. In the past ten years
it has developed into Amsterdam’s architectural showpiece and a great
way to discover this area is by taking the free ferry that departs from
jetty 8 at the Central Station.

Formerly the heart of Amsterdam’s
industrial harbour, these four man-made peninsulas were built between
1876 and 1927 to provide the maximum length of quayside for Amsterdam’s
thriving docklands. Now reborn as the cool place to live, an address on
Java, KNSM, Borneo or Sporenburg “islands” is highly sought after by
Amsterdam’s trendy population. With their cutting edge architecture
admired around the world and KNSM island’s design shops it’s easy to see
why. Borneo island has sixty unique houses as a result of the ‘Live in a
house of your own design’ project. The only things they have in common
are their height, a door on the street side and a private area behind.
The Eastern Docklands have also attracted their fair share of trendy
restaurants.

Amsterdam, city of design
As no
other historical city, Amsterdam has succeeded in remaining a
contemporary breeding ground for creative talents. The many galleries,
studios and museums offer fine jewellery, furniture, glass and ceramic
objects, fashion and interior design. Amsterdam’s historical ambience,
relatively small size, freedom and openness to new ideas is a source of
inspiration for both young and renowned artists.

For more info:

Amsterdam Docklands: a comprehenisive site with lots of info, walking tours

Also worth a visit Amsterdam Center for Historical Heritage