Netherlands Travel

While the British were busy importing some of the best Indian food in the world to London, the Dutch East Indies Trading Company was working to bring some of the world’s best Indonesian food to Amsterdam. One of the top Indonesian restaurants in town is the Kantjil en de Tijger (The Antelope and the Tiger).

The Kantjil en de Tijger is quite well known so reservations are a must. Centrally located on the Spuistraat in the heart of Amsterdam, The Kantjil en de Tijger is a large art-deco location that also offers take-out. The nasi goring is always a popular choice (and makes great take-out) but the gambit of Indonesian food is well represented here: coconut sauce and shrimp, vegetables with peanut sauce, and soja sauce chicken. Main courses run from €10-€20. If you go for dinner, you should definitely try the Rijsttafel... a 20 course adventure for two (€40-€50).

Though not strictly Indonesian, the L'Indochine also deserves mention here. The Vietnamese/Thai cuisine is some of the best I’ve ever had and the service was possibly the best I’ve ever witnessed. The restaurant is conveniently located at Beulingstraat 9. Try a reasonably priced (€20-€30) set meal and indulge in some of their delicious seafood dishes. L’Indochine also has a good wine list that goes beyond France, Spain and Italy to places like Chile, South Africa and Australia.

Check this great Amsterdam Hotels. 

When it comes to ease and convenience, no other hotel in Amsterdam beats the Park Plaza Victoria Amsterdam. Whether you are traveling by train or plane, you will more than likely end up at the central station and the Park Plaza Victoria is just a 5 minute walk away. After you’ve checked in and are ready to start exploring, you are an easy walk from most destinations. If you need to take a tram or taxi, virtually every tram goes past the station and there is a taxi nearby at any hour. Plus, most sightseeing boat trips leave from the docks behind the station. Every mode of transportation is literally at your fingertips.

Inside, the newly refurbished Park Plaza Victoria, brass and marble gleam amidst all the modern touches that you’d expect from an updated 4-star hotel. The rooms are clean, quiet and spacious. The staff is extremely nice. We ended up having a pleasant chat with everyone, from the breakfast waiter to the bellhops. The hotel automatically charges for breakfast (served on a lovely verandah where you can sit and enjoy the meal while watching the passing crowds) but we were able to have the breakfasts we didn’t eat taken off the bill when we left. The Park Plaza Victoria also has a funky bar called the Tasman Bar where we enjoyed cocktails before going out to dinner.

To top off our wonderful stay at the Park Plaza Victoria, we were able to soak our walking pains away in the hotel’s pool and hearty steam bath. What a way to end the day in often-chilly Amsterdam.

One place I always make sure to visit in Amsterdam is the Vincent Van Gogh Museum. Having been to the "Venice of the North" several times (at several different points in my life), I've explored much of what the city has to offer. The Van Gogh Museum never fails to impress me. The Main Building-built in 1973-has seen the area around it transform with the addition of an Exhibition Wing and the redesigning of the adjacent Museumplein (Museum Square) (both in 1999). Van Gogh's life work is complimented by these two additions which offer a large space for visitors to walk, relax, and-during the long summer days-soak in the sun.

Inside, the museum, visitors follow the work of Van Gogh chronologically. Experts categorize his art into five phases and the museum does an excellent job of basing his art in both time and place. As you follow Van Gogh's life through his work, his well-known madness begins peaking out from the canvas. The museum has over 200 paintings, 500 sketches, and 700 letters from the artist's life and they do an excellent job of keeping some of his most famous work on permanent display while rotating in some of his lesser-known pieces. The addition of the exhibition wing gives the museum a chance to highlight a variety of other works-from Van Gogh's expressionist contemporaries to modern pieces-as well as to offer up ever-changing Friday Night events.

The strength of the Van Gogh Museum is in the massive collection of one of the world's most famous artists. But unlike other museums, the Van Gogh refuses to rest on its artistic laurels and instead always strives to have something new and exciting to see.