Posts with category: netherlands

UNESCO names Amsterdam new World Book Capital

Book lovers and aficionados: if Amsterdam wasn't on your travel plans before, you might want to add it. On April 23, UNESCO named Amsterdam the World Book Capital. The city will hold the title until April 2009, and in that time hopes to inspire dialog and spark debate about the freedom of expression.

Here are some of the World Book Capital's upcoming events that just might be of interest:

May 18: Amsterdam International Literary Festival. With over 1,000 stalls this is Europe's largest book market held in the streets of Amsterdam.

April 23 - June 23: Amsterdam in Words. An exhibition with portraits of 60 authors and quotes from their work that relates to a street, park or site in the city.

June 1 - September 8: Poetry in the Park. Two days of poetry in ten of Amsterdam's parks, beginning with Vondelpark and ending with Westerpark.

I guess it's time to hit the Amsterdam books.

Postcard from Anne Frank discovered near Amsterdam

When a Dutch schoolteacher named Paul van den Heuvel began gathering materials for a history lesson on Anne Frank, he probably had no idea that he'd make a bit of history himself. As he was looking through some of his father's old books, he discovered an old postcard displaying a Christmas bell and signed with one very famous name: "Anne Frank".

Curators at the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam have already confirmed that the card is genuine, stating that this card resembles another already in the museum's collection. The card was apparently sent in 1937, eight years before Anne Frank's death.

The Diary of Anne Frank is still the world's top-selling book about the Holocaust, documenting the months Anne and her family spent hiding from the Nazis during World War II.

More here.

Hollywood stuntman to sail Atlantic in popsicle stick ship

31 world record breaker and former Hollywood stuntman Robert McDonald's new adventure is to cross the Atlantic in a 15-meter ship made of 15 million ice-cream sticks, that looks like a replica of a Viking ship.

A lot of the sticks were used, steam-cleaned ones and about 13-million of them were donated by Unilever. He made the ship, stick by stick, with the help of his son and 5000 children from Holland; the sticks have been stuck together by salt-water proof glue. This ship is probably the world's largest handmade recycled object.

McDonald's creative and risk-filled life stems from the fact that he was injured in a gas explosion that killed his parents and six-siblings, and confined him to 5-years of hospital bed rest. All his feats are motivated by a strong and simple belief that he wants to share with kids: "you can do anything". Part of McDonald's fearless stunt portfolio includes climbing the Twin Towers in 1995, and free-climbing the Grand Canyon.

A dangerous expedition but possible; the ship is undergoing various sea-trials at the moment. Apparently, McDonald said that when a boat inspector analyzed one of his planks made of 5000 popsicle sticks, he pronounced it 5-times stronger than steel.(!)

According to a Reuters report, he currently is looking for a crew to sail the ship across Atlantic from Holland to America as well as of course, funding.

Dollars hard to sell in Amsterdam

You may be sick of hearing how low the dollar is, but today we have just another example of how badly the American currency is fairing. In Amsterdam, small currency outlets are refusing to buy dollars for euros, making it difficult for tourists to exchange their money.

"Our dollar is worth maybe zero over here," said Mary Kelly, an American tourist from Indianapolis, Indiana as reported by Reuters. "It's hard to find a place to exchange. We have to go downtown, to the central station or post office."

Small currency exchanges are different than banks and other institutions in that they don't want to be holding a currency that will devalue and be worth less next time they have to sell it. One euro is currently worth $1.58, compared to $1.47 a month ago. If you want to make your travel money last, it's probably time to find a job in Europe.

Where to sleep with Socrates

Located in Amsterdam, the Sandton Hotel de Filosoof (Philosopher's Hotel) is one of the more high-minded theme hotels in the world. The thirty-eight rooms are all dedicated to well-known philosophers, including Nietzsche, Spinoza, Confucius, and Thoreau (pictured).

The Thomas Hobbes room, I've heard, is a little "nasty", while Plato's room apparently has a lamp and a wall for perfect for making shadow puppets. Socrates' room looks nice in the photos, but I'd avoid sampling any leftover drinks you find. Kudos to you if you got those references.

Check out some of the rooms here.

[Hat tip: Tyler Cowen]

Amsterdam moving underground

In December, I wrote about how Amsterdam is dramatically downsizing their red-light district in the coming years. It seems that's just the least of it.

Rumors are coming in that within a couple decades, Amsterdam will start building a massive underground city. Engineered already by the architecture firm Zwarts & Jansma, it calls for "a range of underground facilities ... at various levels below the city."

The project will cost some 7.4 billion euros and take 20 years. The good news is that the city's historic canals will be left in place--thought they'll have to be temporarily drained. Could we see this elsewhere?

I don't see why not. Many cities are already building as high up as they can possibly go, just look at Shanghai. The next logical step is down. When I was in Beijing, I stayed in a terrible hostel that was minus four stories down. It felt like I was two levels removed from hell.

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What strange things have been found on planes?


Click the image to read the bizarre story...

Hire a local to be your local buddy

Anyone who has ever traveled knows just how rewarding a trip can be when you meet a local who takes you under their wing.

And now there is a website to ensure that this happens.

For a price, of course.

Like-a-Local.com specializes in hooking tourists up with locals in London, Antwerp, Barcelona, Madrid, Amsterdam, Paris, and Lisbon. Simply mention what you are looking to experience (local restaurants, local architecture, local shopping, local etc.) and your hired local will then do what locals do best: show you around like a local. Get it?

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

Shutting down Amsterdam's debauchery

Back in September, we brought you the news that one-third of Amsterdam's red-light district will be shut down and transformed into housing. Now it seems the transformation will be even more drastic than previously thought. A wide swatch of the district will be replaced by "chic apartments, upmarket shops, galleries of high-quality hotels, and restaurants."

The clean-up apparently has the full backing of the city, right up to the mayor. He said the city doesn't want to completely ban prostitution; they just want to make it more discreet and limited to a couple of blocks. But it sounds like this could be more than just the usual back-and-forth on prostitution. As part of the plans, Amsterdam wants to "restore a number of historic buildings and reverse the decline of a large central area where brothels, sex clubs, and the coffee shops that sell marijuana line the city's canals."

On the upside, now the city wants to devote resources to restoring historic buildings, which is at least better than putting up more drab public housing or such. I may be reading too much into this, but looks like they want to take the Amsterdam out of Amsterdam.

No man is an island, but some build them

Proposed tulip islandCiting concerns regarding overcrowding and rising sea levels, the Dutch Parliament recently announced it is seeking to build a tulip-shaped island in the North Sea, just off the country's coast. (Check out Brett's post on that subject here). Artificial islands have already been constructed in places throughout the world, with probably the most famous being the Palm Islands in Dubai. This all seems to beg the question, just how do you build an island?

Samantha Henig, Slate's resident Explainer, has posted an informative video answering just that question. Apparently, dumping large amounts of sand and gravel into the ocean is a good place to start.

Of course, there's always the method that Richie Sowa employed in constructing his Spiral Island off the Mexican coast-- round up 250,000 plastic bottles and simply float. Come to think of it, anyone wanting to build their own island might be better sticking with the sand and gravel method-- Spiral Island was destroyed by a hurricane in 2005.

Amazing Race 12: Recap of nothing. Instead Survivor:China gets on my nerves

Okay, you can bet I was disappointed to not have my fix of Amazing Race tonight. Particularly after enjoying Martha's recap of last week. I missed the show because I was having my white knuckle drive back from Kentucky. Tonight, I was all set to take notes on who said what and did what for my own recap, but no. Amazing Race was not on. Instead, there was a two-hour Survivor: China. While I watched Survivor, a show I have never seen before, I thought about what makes Amazing Race such an interesting show--and why Survivor gets on my nerves.



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