Hi!
I travel to Amsterdam fairly often for work, and while it’s incredibly hard to be away from my family (and even harder for my husband at home!), I feel very grateful to get to dip into another culture so frequently.
Amsterdam is a beautiful city, filled to the brim with flowing canals and bustling cobblestone streets. The city is an architectural wonder, with new neighborhoods regularly being dug out of the water. Our office is located in one such part of the city, and I can track the progress of new buildings emerging from the IJ Bay (the body of water considered Amsterdam’s waterfront) each time I check into my nearby hotel.
This creates a vibrant tension in the city. An ongoing conversation between water and land, nature and humanity, intense ingenuity and a reverence for the planet. A legacy of Old Dutch Masters and the Dutch East India Trading company. Art and Commerce. Work and play. The tiny, tilting buildings that have stood for centuries are now decorated with light and bright modern furniture. The narrow, winding streets are like playgrounds to explore, and the actual playgrounds are wide open spaces filled with wooden climbing structures and in-ground trampolines and secret gardens.
The weather can often be murky. Drizzly, foggy, windy. Neither here nor there. Cozy cafes and gaslit street lamps liven up the darker days (and I highly suggest taking an evening walk when the city is lit up with those lamps). But when the sun breaks through, it’s as if the entire city celebrates. I’ve watched crowds jump into the harbor at 11 PM in the summer for a refreshing swim (and I spotted a few brave souls taking cold plunges on this trip). There are tons of restaurants that offer seating spilling out into the streets, and you can float on the canals as easily as if you were riding your bicycle around town (which is how most of the locals travel).
Of course, I spend most of my time in the office, but even there I feel like a tourist. Firstly, everyone.takes.lunch. Together, with silverware, in a dining room. Secondly, most people have meetings at one of the many coffee bars in the office, instead of within the four walls of a conference room. Everyone speaks excellent English but also breaks out in their native languages. Dutch, German, French, Spanish, and English accents bounce through the air, as everyone works together.
Traveling is always an amazing reminder that there are as many ways to live a life as there are people on the planet.
I don’t sleep much on these trips due to jet lag but I definitely do as much people-watching as I can. The Dutch don’t close their shutters, so when you walk around the city you often see people and families in their kitchens, eating breakfast in the morning and gathering around the table in the evenings. Just like me.
I guess we’re not so different after all.
I’ve included some of my Amsterdam favorites below, if you are in trip-planning or dreaming mode.
Until next time!
Thank you for reading,
Lindsay
Faves!
To stay
•The Hoxton - located right on one of the central canals, it’s quintessential Amsterdam. Rooms vary widely and can be quite small and unusual. Luck of the draw!
•The July - located in a brand new neighborhood on the harbor, but rooms are generously sized (for Amsterdam) and also have kitchenettes for longer stays. The city center is easily accessible by Uber (or bike), or a slightly longer walk (approx 30 mins)
To stroll
•The Nine Streets - three quaint streets cutting perpendicular between the three major canals, with adorable local and global shops and charm galore
•The Vondelpark - a new (meaning 19th century) part of the city, this is a gorgeous park surrounded by elegant homes, shops and hotels
•The Westerpark (this auto corrected to Westeros for my Game of Thrones fans, which made me laugh) - there are both broad and winding paths that are great for running. Some cute cafes and even cuter playgrounds
To do
•The Van Gogh Museum: an absolute joy to be surrounded by walls and walls of Van Gogh’s (which is always what I seek out in other museums) and nothing else
•Any of the canal boat tours! A can’t miss way to see the city especially if you’re there during December and January for the Amsterdam Light Festival
•Seriously, just get lost! This is the quintessential walking city. Just watch out for very fast-moving bikes (give them the right of way!) and trolley cars
To eat
The city’s dining scene has improved over the last few years but it’s no New York ;)
•Helling 7: my boss and I ate here at this new-to-me restaurant in a new-to-me industrial neighborhood on the other side of the harbor from central Amsterdam. It’s about a 15 minute Uber ride but the food was delicious and the views on a clear evening were gorgeous. The entry to the restaurant is up a few flights of rickety stairs, and you are seated high above the water looking out across the city. Excellent sunset views. The wood-fired octopus was especially good. (The service was notably slow, but TBH Dutch service in general is…lacking.)
•Cecconi’s: ok I told you the dining scene was no New York, except in this case, in which the Soho House brought New York to Amsterdam. Yes, you can eat here in Brooklyn. Yes, it’s a tad “hip,” but the pizzas and pastas are really good and the restaurant is in an impressive 1934 building on the Singel Canal.
•MOMO: an old standby for work dinners, it’s been here as long as I’ve been traveling to Amsterdam (just about a decade!) and it’s a buzzy, fun mix of Asian fusion.
P.S. the restaurants at The Hoxton and The July are also good if you’re staying there. Get the avocado toast for breakfast at the Hoxton.)