Oct 20th, 2009
by Ralph Grizzle.
The InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam was chosen as Netherlands’ Leading Business Hotel during the World Travel Awards 2009 ceremony, which took place in Obidos, Portugal, in October. This year’s poll was the highest in the World Travel Awards’ 16-year history, with more than 170,000 industry professionals casting their votes for what they consider to be the very best travel, tourism and hospitality products and services in Europe.
Established in 1993, the World Travel Awards recognize, reward and celebrate excellence in all sectors of the global travel industry. Over the years they have become among the most prestigious awards in the travel industry, referred to by the Wall Street Journal as the travel-industry’s equivalent of the Oscars.
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Posted in: Amsterdam, Hotels.
Jun 20th, 2009
by Ralph Grizzle.
In Amsterdam, the rental agency, Mac Bike, recommended a route called “The Great Waterland Bicycle Tour.”
I followed the route, well described on the map, through Amsterdam, riding past charming canals, beautiful architecture, over pedestrians (well, past most but nearly over one or two who stepped in front of the bike) and alongside other cyclists and eventually found my way to the train station and the ferry across to Waterland, north of Amsterdam.
The ferries are free and transit every five minutes or so. A ramp lowers and you push your bike on. In fact, I don’t think there is any public facility that hasn’t been set up for bikes. Even outdoor stairways, have a steel gutter to accommodate the bike’s wheels. The ferry transit is only a couple of minutes, and I stood there among a throng of other cyclists waiting to reach the other side.
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Posted in: Bicycling, Marken, Ouderkerk ann de Amstel, Uitdam, Waterland.
Jun 14th, 2009
by Ralph Grizzle.
Editor’s Choice: Hotel Pulitzer: Best Luxury Hotel Location
The Facts — Consisting of 25, 17th and 18th-century, canal houses, the 230-room Pulitzer Hotel is a veritable maze. “Better to let someone escort you to your room the first time,” the receptionist suggested after I had checked in.
The bellman navigated a series of hallways, several staircases and a small elevator to get me to room 262. When I suggested that I might need him to fetch me when I was ready to leave, he responded jokingly, “Better to stay in the room, order room service and watch Dutch television.” No doubt, he understood the complexity of finding one’s way around this hotel.
But that complexity is what gives the Pulitzer its charm. Turn a corner, and there’s small courtyard, shaded by trees, a sanctuary here in Amsterdam’s city center. Turn another corner, and you find cozy nooks and bars, a charming restaurant with beautiful windows that frame the bustling Amsterdam street life.
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Posted in: Anne Frank House, Hotels.
Jun 14th, 2009
by Ralph Grizzle.
The Anne Frank House museum will put the Holocaust victim’s diaries and other writings on permanent display to commemorate what would have been her 80th birthday on June 12, 1929. For more, read the USA Today article.
Posted in: Anne Frank House.
Jun 11th, 2009
by Ralph Grizzle.
Everyone, from crib to coffin, pedals a bike in the Netherlands. The country is mostly flat and ideal for cycling, but the best part is that cyclists pedal along roads either with no cars at all (with tiny traffic lights for bikes) — or with drivers who actually pay attention to cyclists. That is why Dutch cyclists are 30 times less likely to be killed than their stateside counterparts, according to Bicycling magazine. And that is why for tourists, cycling Holland is a match made, well, in the Netherlands.
The story gets even better when you combine boats and bikes. That is just what I did for one week on a “Bike & Boat Tour” offered by Channel Cruises, which touts its tours as “the most Dutch way” to see the Netherlands. Continue reading →
Posted in: Barge, Bicycling.
Jun 9th, 2009
by Ralph Grizzle.
New museum offers opportunities for those cruising to or from Amsterdam this summer.
On June 20, 2009, a major new European cultural destination situates itself in Amsterdam.
Hermitage Amsterdam opens its doors to welcome visitors to an elegantly restored 17th-century building that will serve as the only dedicated, independently managed venue in the West of St. Petersburg’s world-reknown State Hermitage Museum.
Hermitage Amsterdam will host the exhibition “At the Russian Court,” a display of more than 1,800 treasures from the St. Petersburg’s Hermitage. The scholarly researched exploration of the opulent material culture, elaborate social hierarchy and richly layered traditions of the Tsarist court at its height in the 19th century will remain on exhibition until January 31, 2010.
Afterward, Hermitage Amsterdam will stage two large-scale, temporary exhibitions each year from St. Petersburg.
Posted in: Hermitage Amsterdam.
Jun 8th, 2009
by Ralph Grizzle.
Unlike our dear former president, I inhaled. And while I did so intentionally and without apology, I also did so, as I do many things in life, with some degree of discomfort. Please, stay with me a moment. I promise I am not stoned as I write these words.
Obliged by journalistic duty to explore one of the reasons that some travelers visit Amsterdam, I set out one afternoon in search of a coffee house. Not the type of establishment where you buy coffee (wink, wink), but the type where you can “Bogart” a joint. Chalk it up to curiosity.
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Posted in: Coffee Shops, wink, wink.
Jun 7th, 2009
by Ralph Grizzle.
Bicyclists stream by in an endless procession along Reestraat, the narrow street that crosses a canal to pass by one side of the famed Hotel Pulitzer. From my breakfast table inside the hotel restaurant, a large window frames a scene of merry cyclists. Peering out over a flower box of purple petunias, I do what journalists do: observe.
With a chill still in the air, a woman pedals by in an elegant long jacket. She has adorned her bike with a wicker basket, flowers woven into the basket’s upper edge.
Another woman pedals slowly with a terrier seated in a basket, the lucky pup’s whiskers blowing in the breeze. A fishmonger glides along Reestraat with a wooden carton secured on the back of his bike. Fresh fish being delivered to a residence or restaurant?
A young couple coasts by, the young man steering the bike and the girl seated sideways on the rack behind. A pair of young women cycle past, beautiful and graceful in the sunlight. Riding by just now: a mother and two children on a three wheel bike, with a wheelbarrow-shaped compartment for the kids.
All of this from my window, within a span of about five minutes. Amsterdam is beauty in motion.
Posted in: Amsterdam, Bicycling.
Jun 6th, 2009
by Ralph Grizzle.
Editor’s Choice: InterContinental Amstel, Amsterdam’s Grand Dame
The Facts — Commanding an awe-inspiring view overlooking the Amstel River, the palatial InterContinental Amstel is Amsterdam’s regally impressive Grande Dame. And as a grand old lady who holds high status and a degree of respect among her peers, the Amstel claims her spot as Amsterdam’s best hotel In fact, she boasts many “best” accolades, including her most recent recognition by a UK business magazine as the “Best Luxury Hotel of the Netherlands.”
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Posted in: Hermitage Amsterdam, Hotels.
May 19th, 2009
by Ralph Grizzle.
Bicyclists parked (and locked) at Amsterdam’s Central Station.
In the Netherlands, it is said, there are more bicycles than people.
The statistics, thanks to the web site Amsterdamize:
- Population: 16.5 million
- Bikes: 18 million
- New bikes sold a year: 1.35 million
- Bikes stolen a year: between 1.2 and 1.4 million
Bike rental companies repeatedly warn guests to lock their bikes. Two locks are typically provided, one built-in unit that locks the back wheel and another consisting of a heavy chain that rental shops advise to strap around “something permanent.” Otherwise, the girl who rented to me joked, the bikes end up in China – or at the bottom of a canal.
Posted in: Bicycling.
