The Low Down On Amsterdam Escorts.

It is the horrible scraping sound of the flagpole on the underside of the bridge as it echoes through the cobbled streets of Amsterdam. Repeatedly. Like a knife on a ceramic plate. I duck just as the boat enters the darkness of the tunnel.
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Of course, on a normal trip to Amsterdam, you would wake up the next day in your hotel room and grab some breakfast. On a boat, it’s all maps, bridges and throwing ropes around again. At least it takes my mind off my throbbing hangover – and we even manage to get through the day without breaking the remaining wine glasses. Get us.
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* If you’re the type to indulge in the local traditions, the Bulldog coffee shop, founded in the Red Light District back in 1975, is one of the most obvious choices. Oudezijds Voorburgwal 90II, 1012 GG Amsterdam.

See the full article from “Metro”

Flower country: Amsterdam
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There’s no better introduction to this beautiful 17th Century city than a canal cruise. It simply is the best way to get acquainted with the city — its history and architecture. Amsterdam wouldn’t be the same without its characteristic little canals. Our glass covered boat allowed great view of the city’s many sites including the Dutch Gabled houses, the churches, the river Amstel and the canals of Wallen which are the oldest part of Amsterdam and the site of the city’s red light district. Canal cruises leave from various points around the city and vary in duration ; we opted for the two-hour cruise.
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Hungry after all the sight-seeing, we stopped by at a pancake house and while my cousin had a bacon and cheese pancake; I had the traditional Dutch ham, cheese and onion pancake. Of course we had Amstel beer to wash it down. After lunch was a stop at the largest diamond processing facility in Amsterdam.

See the full article from “The Hindu”

Amsterdam: Walk on water
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* There’s a museum for almost anything in Amsterdam, but history and literature buffs should probably try the famous Anne Frank House. But get there early; no matter what the time of year this is one of the city’s most popular attractions and there will be queues. For something slightly different, try the Het Schip Museum in Westerpark, a little further out of the central city but easily accessible by bus or bike, it celebrates the “Amsterdamse school” architectural style, the famous “ship” building designed by Michel de Klerk.
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Where to stay: Novotel Amsterdam City is a four-star hotel in Amsterdam’s commercial district. It has comfortable rooms, speedy check-in, two new restaurants and a bar. The central city is accessible by bicycle or train, with Rai station a two-minute walk away. It’s next to Amstel Park, which makes for a pleasant riverside bike ride.
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Kerri Jackson travelled courtesy of Emirates and Amsterdam Tourism.

See the full article from “New Zealand Herald”

THE HAGUE – Amsterdamâs 17th century canal district, added this weekend to UNESCOâs World Heritage List, is a remnant of the Dutch Golden Age, a time when the city led the world in art, trade and architecture.
The zone is composed of four curved canals that run parallel to each other and half encircle the Amsterdam city centre, including its famous red light district – the Singel, the Herengracht, the Keizergracht and the Prinsengracht.
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“The Amsterdam canal belt is unique in the world as an urban developmental and architectural artwork,” the Amsterdam municipality says in a document backing its UNESCO bid.
It is an example of the cityâs 17th century economic, political and cultural blossoming – a time when Amsterdam was the “warehouse of the world”.
“The Amsterdam inner city is the most successful example of early modern city planning in Europe,” states the document, and the canal belt “a masterpiece of hydraulic engineering”.

See the full article from “Montreal Gazette”

London’s National Gallery houses over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. They are arranged by period: 1250-1500, 1500-1600, 1600-1700, and 1700-1900. As might be expected of an iconic national asset, and one which attracts as many as five million visitors a year, the treasure it accommodates, like that of New York’s Metropolitan, is at times eye-watering. However, unlike the National, the Met’s collection enthusiastically embraces modernism. And it is the National’s failure to do so that creates the environmental flavor, which makes the sandwiching of Ed and Nancy Kienholz’s 1983-88 assemblage, The Hoerengracht, their life-size reconstruction of a sliver of Amsterdam’s red light district, so exhilarating, albeit superficially.
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It would be hard to argue against the decision by the National’s director, Nicholas Penny to exhibit The Hoerengracht, the name of which is a pun suggesting “Gentleman’s Canal.” In placing it alongside scenes depicting prostitution from the 17th century by the likes of Vermeer and De Hooch, the intellectual and historical link is secured. However, The Hoetengrac …

See the full article from “NY Arts Magazine”

Well, groeten van Amsterdam! (greetings from Amsterdam!) Yes, I have now left London and am reporting from Amsterdam! I like to think that phase II of my research has commenced. Whereas in London, my focus was on the intelligence aspects of Market Garden, in Holland, I will be focusing on the literal invasion and the military aspects of my research topic. Right, but before I get into the nitty gritty and tell you about what Hanna Holborn related activity I accomplished, I thought I would use this post to talk about Amsterdam!
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We had inadvertently stumbled into Amsterdam’s infamous red-light district. As you may or may not know, in this neighborhood, prostitutes attempt to seduce customers from within their electrically lit glass window cubicles. Also, you can find many cannabis/drug shops, seedy strip clubs, pornography shops…I mean the list goes on. (If you are familiar with Manhattan and Christopher St. downtown, the red light district made Christopher St. look PG and family oriented!)

See the full article from “Bryn Mawr Now (blog)”

Police in Amsterdam have an unusual new plan to combat the rising tide of anti-Semitism testing that famous Dutch tolerance. It’s a novel idea, which seems to be the main reason it’s gotten international media attention, but the idea of “decoy Jews” really isn’t that strange. Instead of having cops pose as johns in a prostitution sting or as druggies when trying to nab a dealer — by the way, I’m not sure either of those vices are illicit in Amsterdam — cops will disguise themselves as observant Jews to catch anti-Semites in the act.
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In other words, this is a problem that’s been around for a while — it runs deep enough that some politicians think it’s provocation, a crime, to make a cop look like a Jew because, you know, some people really can’t stand the sight of Jews — and one that probably can’t be solved by “decoy Jews” alone. The politicians and police officials acknowledge this in the stories. What isn’t acknowledged is that anti-Semitism in Amsterdam has competition from plenty of its neighbors.

See the full article from “GetReligion (blog)”

AMSTERDAM — “Maybe it’s supposed to be part of the fun, that you make your own bed,’’ my husband, Wessel, suggested as we stared at the large cover-less bed in our tiny room.It sounds crazy that we would even consider absentee bedding to be some sort of game. But at trippy citizenM, a Dutch hotel chain lauded for its playful modern style and interactive technology, anything seemed possible. The hotel’s Amsterdam City location, which opened in 2009, was named “trendiest hotel in the world’’ by a TripAdvisor survey this year, and its first location, which opened at Amsterdam’s Airport Schiphol in 2008, won the European Hotel Design Award of the Year. (A third location is due to open in Glasgow later this year.)It was my idea to stay at citizenM for its combination of high design and relatively low rates. Wessel thinks brightly colored, misshapen furniture is all a bit silly, but he does appreciate a bargain.The fashion forwardness and technological trickery caused us to doubt ourselves in the missing-c …

See the full article from “Boston Globe”

You have to watch them play to know why, decades later, we are still talking about the glorious past.
In that 1974 World Cup, the deadly Cruyff/ Neeskens duo humbled Argentina 4-0 and Brazil 2-0. The Dutch lost the next World Cup in 1978 to the Argentines in the final. It was another crushing blow.
I fear the same disastrous outing for the Dutch tomorrow. It will be another sad outing for them if they do not play the same kind of attacking football as Spain.
Look at the statistics: of the six straight victories in South Africa, five were by a one-goal margin. They were either letting in too many goals or not scoring enough.
The Dutch take great pride in their somewhat bohemian way of life, which has made their country a beacon of democracy. This is a country that has legalised marijuana and prostitution.

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You know right off that this is going to be an extraordinary novel because of its setting: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet opens in 1799 on an island called Dejima in the harbor of Nagasaki, Japan. As our title hero, Jacob de Zoet, first describes it, the “fan-shaped” island is man-made, “some two hundred paces [long] around its outer curve and erected, like much of Amsterdam, on sunken piles.” Dajima is the province of the Dutch East Indies Co., and its tiny stone bridge over a tidal moat constitutes the sole gateway between samurai-ruled Japan and the outside world. Young Jacob has arrived there to serve five years as a bookkeeper, after which he hopes to have amassed enough money to marry the wealthy fiancee waiting for him back in Amsterdam. This island outpost of progress is packed with spies, prostitutes, sailors, slaves and con men. It’s a sliver of the feverish modern world ruled by commerce, wedged up against resolute feudalism.

See the full article from “NPR”