Noorderlicht is an old dock place, used by 250 artists working in the fields of theater, film, media, architecture and design. The place is both cafe & restaurant and also a little getaway from the city. Especially when the weather is holding up, it’s a perfect way to spend a late afternoon contemplating your day in Amsterdam on the terrace overlooking the IJ and part of the city center.

The staff is very informal, laid back and friendly, but not particularly speedy when it’s busy. The food is always fresh, healthy and delicious. The menu changes with the seasons and offers a variety of prices, so you can decide if you want to stay on a budget or splurge a little. The desserts are to die for, especially the plum tarte tatin and hangop pudding with rhubarb sauce.

Getting there: An absolute must! From the new Aanmeersteiger behind Central Station, where the big ferry to Amsterdam Noord-establishes, leaves a NDSM ferry to the wharf. Hence it is five minutes walk to Northern Lights. Over 50 more after arriving straight and then turn right at the NDSM. Walk 300 meter straight to the sheds on your left. At the end you see right to a transparent dome ‘t IJ. Just make sure you don’t miss the last ferry back to civilization. Ferries operate daily at 12:00 till 22:00.

Centrale Bibliotheek (OBA) in Amsterdam is not just an ordinary library. Sure it has everything that one bibliotheek should have – an extensive collection of books, a quiet atmosphere and plenty of places to study or read. Yet, the largest library in the Benelux offers much, much more.

Very close to the Central Station, the Central Library opened its doors in 2007, and become the most visited cultural organization in Amsterdam with 2.5 million visitors a year. You can easily spend the whole day here: study at one of the 600 computers (or use the free wireless internet); have a drink at one of the coffee corners while enjoying a magazine or paper from the extensive selection; check out the art exhibitions in the spacious hall; or go the restaurant on the top floor—breathtaking views included in every meal.

The library has 7 floors, creatively designed by Jo Coenen. With its 28,000 square meteres, it offers the perfect opportunity to escape the hustle of the city and soak up some well-deserved knowledge.

How to get there: the Central Library can be reached by public transport, using all metros, trams and buses terminating at Amsterdam Central Station or by bike via the bicycle bridge (left by the pedestrian quay to Nemo). You will see the library at the end of the bridge. Just past the library, you will see the secure bicycle storage.

Burnham Pavillion was installed in June in Millennium Park, symbolizing the forward-looking agenda of the 220 organizations commemorating this year’s 100th anniversary of the Plan of Chicago. The architects rendering of the pavilion was released by the Alderman, the Burnham Committee, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the Art Institute of Chicago and Friends of Downtown. The pavilion is open from June 19 through October 31 on the South Chase Promenade of Millennium Park.

Burnham Pavillion was designed by London-based Zaha Hadid and the other by Amsterdam-based Ben van Berkel of UNStudio-emphasize the importance of boldly imagining a better future for all, as Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett did in 1909 in their Plan of Chicago.

Copenhagen is one of the world’s least pretensions, least capital. It’s among the easiest capital to explore, thanks to its manageble size and pedestrian – and bicycle -friendliness. Most of the Copenhagen ancient structures were lost to fires in the 18th century, but its historic center somehow was saved.

Today Copenhagen is intimate rather than monumental and what impresses more are the vernacular buildings that give the multiple quarters variety and distinction. The tiny student apartments have been combined into c0-ops, latterias and boutiques have supplanted the sex shops and street life is unmistakably boho-chic.

Denmark and Sweden decided to build the Oresund bridge between Copenhagen and Malmö. Before, Denmark had been in the corner of Europe, and Sweden was not physically connected at all. When the bridge made the connection between [mainland] Europe and Sweden in 2000,  made Ørestad, which is near to where the bridge meets the city, a very attractive place for development, whereas before, it was a nature preserve and an area for military exercises.

Copenhagen is a good living city, where you have easy access to work and can send your children to play in the garden. Not a lot of cities have that quality, and that’s why a lot of families want to live in Copenhagen.

A good city needs more than good architecture. It needs a policy for city life. So the new urban areas are being developed in dialogue with those who will use them, and people other than architects and planners. Almost every competition about Copenhagen now has a panel including anthropologists, sociologists, communication and cultural people—–that’s very typical.

Copenhagen, though it’s certainly cosmopolitan, has a villagelike quality. For sure the city is not a spot where you find the most interesting theater, compared [with] London. But if you’re an artist, maybe Berlin will be more fascinating place to experience. But I think the reason to go to Copenhagen, as I said before, is that it’s a good living city. Like Amsterdam, it’s very cozy and relaxed to be in. That’s one of our best quali-ties, and something London, Berlin, or Paris don’t have in the same way.

Het Veer is a school for children with learning and concentration difficulties. The school interior work was to convey and attract concentration, playfulness and movement. Their eight different white and red tube furniture pieces can be mixed and matched creating various formations. They play off the Buzz Wire science game that teaches about electric circuits and is based on concentration and hand coordination.

The school is located in Almere, a 25 kilometers east of Amsterdam and often referred to as the most modern city in Europe. Almost 1,500 students work in a sport-centric environment where they receive coaching for their specific sport and in academic topics. i29, also the creator of Het Veer was asked to envision  the public spaces — including the main hall, staff room, library and computer/media room — for the new Bos & Partners architects-designed building with its gray brick, glass walls and unusual floor plans. They featured big images of the school’s famous sports hero alumni and then custom-created multi-functional tables, benches and signage, plus a color scheme for the common areas.

Het Veer is very beautiful school and one of the easiest ways to make a boring space more vibrant is to use color.

Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany, perfect destination to explore its culture walking or on water. The port of Hamburg is the second largest port in Europe. Huge numbers of rivers, canals and lakes offer many opportunities for sightseeing the city from water. Hamburg has more bridges than Venice, Amsterdam and London, all together.

The picture shows the Fleetschloesschen, a little canal castle, is a former public restroom, then a customs office and now a cafe and restaurant.

Homeowners in the famous Winterhude neighborhood kept their boats on the Goldbekkanal, one of the many branches of the Alster River. The Alster River flows under the Sengelmannstrasse Bridge in the Hamburg neighborhood of Ohlsdorf, nearly five hours from the city center.

Many of the buildings in Hamburg are converted into lofts and commercial space for publishing, advertising and architecture firms.

Hamburg has more than 40 theatres, 60 museums and 100 music venues and clubs.

Today there’re more intoxicating reasons to visit Amsterdam, than its popular coffee shops or its red-light district. Amsterdam is angling to become Europe’s creative capital. If you are on vacation there, the first thing to do is to rent a bike. This way you can avoided expensive taxi rides and feel like a local from the start. Don’t worry you won’t lost, because there’re bike paths everywhere. A nice spot to find a good bike is Orangebike.

The next best thing to do, connected friends in town is hiring a few. The company Like-a-Local connects tourists with friendly locals who will invite into their homes and cook a dinner for you. Such dinners are not only fun, but they’re great deal, with prices ranging from 23 to 35 euros, including a lot of wines.

The famous night club Jimmy Woo’s may be good times if you’re 22, but anyone older might feel like a chaperone. The club has an over-the-top Asian restaurant with ostrich wallpaper and mirrored tables, three cocktail bars with spectacular lighting and cool dance floor that vibrates.

The Van Gogh Museum in  Amsterdam attracts younger visitors for its Friday night opening hours. The museum is also a place, where people could meet and have a drink.

The museum central hall is turned into lounge in the form of a lobby and has an extra dimension: an encounter between the visitors. The chairs, sofas and rugs are blue in colour, so that the lobby can functions as a blue screen. When a film of the lobby is merged with an image of a Van Gogh painting and projected onto the wall of the central hall, the furniture is invisible and the people in the lobby appear to be in the middle of the painting.

As well as the visitors can walk through the street by the yellow house or snitt at Van Gogh’s sunflowers. This gives Friday nights at the museum a style all their own, distinctly different from the regular opening hours.

Every summer time, Amsterdam is one of the greatest destination for travelers even though just for a couple of days. The city is crowded and offers every kind of fun for you and your friends.

 The eco-industrial-chic tapas bar Werck serves up beers, cheese chunks, fried meat-and-dough balls that are a ubiquitous Dutch bar snack at reasonable prices.

 

 The Cafe de Wetering, a corner bar, inside sounds soft jass played on the stereo.

 

 If you don’t wanna spend your night in the standard places such as houseboats or bed-and-breakfast hostels, take an apartment in Amsterdam via Craigslist. The interior of the four-room apartment isn’t too shabby- 600 square feet of painted floors glowing with sunlight, well-furnished and comfortable.

 

 This is the view from the apartment, which is the Nine Streets, possibly the most desirable neighborhood in the city with cafes, fashion boutiques and much more…..

 

Antique lenses on display at the National Museum of Spectacles.

 

The annual Gay Parade take place on the water.

Stayokay Maastricht is a hostel located in the centre of Maastricht (a city situated in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands between Belgium and Germany) on the western banks of the Maas. The hostel has 38 rooms.Three are multifunctional halls, a waterside terrace and mooring facilities for boats.

The waterside terrace and brasserie are accessible to everyone. Special is the red beech tree growing through the roof in the centre of the building.

The lobby includes a multicoloured mosaic floor, movable bulletin boards, wooden tables and poof chairs. Round light fittings with photographs provide an impression of the surrounding environment.

The bedrooms floors are covered in specially designed Marmoleum. The beds are made of brushed stainless steel. Because of the flexible structure, the double bunks can easily be dismantled and reassembled as single or double beds.

The designer of the hostel is Edward van Vliet, who also specially designed the light fittings.He has earned his spurs in the market for his contribution towards setting up the restaurant and cocktail bar of the Deluxe Hotel Derlon in Maastricht and the NL Hotel in Amsterdam

A park like landscape containing colourful designs by the French designer Matali Crasset in Amsterdam. As part of the Erasmus Festival.

Matali Crasset is one of the most famous designer woman on the international scene.

Former assistant of Denis Santachiara and Philippe Starck, she established herself in 1995 with her piece Quand Jim monte à Paris. She received several orders from the Netherlands, amoung them the development of SMS s’Hertogenbosch.

The Lloyd Hotel has a perfect location: it is located in the heart of Amsterdam with direct public transport connections and access to every part of the city. The hotel also has its own spacious parking garage. There’s also a lot of space in front of the hotel if you’re interested in getting there by boat.

The hotel structure is a true showcase for Dutch architecture and design. Each room in the hotel offer a different experience. A lot of Dutch Designers (Claudy Jongstra, Hella Jongerius, De Bazel, Marcel Wanders, Richard Hutten,) have been created some of the furniture elements.

The hotel has a restaurant – called Snel (best translated as “brisk”) – a recording studio, a nomadic library and some rooms with a kitchen for the use of those hotel guests who prefer to cook for their own visitors. Eating and drinking in Lloyd Hotel is about good ingredients and a simple way of treating them

The hotel is sitted on the Prins Hendrikkade in the city centre at only 500 m from Central Station and 1100 m from Dam Square.The place is in the historic heart of Amsterdam bordering on canals and within walking distance to the best sights. The Schiphol Airport is just 19 km away.

There’re 164 rooms and visitors are greeted with a magnificent hall and stairway crowned with a globe of the world and details that represent a highpoint in early 20th century architecture as well as a glorious tribute to sea commerce.

Every room offers all up to date comforts and is equipped with every conceivable modern facility, including complimentary wireless internet access and free minibar. Facilities include the Seven Seas restaurant, with wooden floors and stained glass as well as a bar-lounge and a wellness centre with fitness. swimming pool, sauna, Turkish steam bath and whirlpool.

For special occasions, business dinners and private events, it is possible to arrange a private dinner. All the private dining rooms are special and the dishes and menus can be adapted to suit the personal wishes of the guests. It is also possible to dine during a relaxing boat trip around the canals of Amsterdam.

Hydra Pier Water Pavilion is a structure built as a pavilion for Haarlemmermeer’s Floriade exhibition in 2002 – a massive, once-a-decade Dutch horticultural fair in Amsterdam. The building actually floating onto a lake and it’s in this reclaimed area below sea level. One interesting feature, which really amused visitors is the water continuously flowing over the roof and walls of the building, beneath which the structural-glass construction dematerializes.

This is the kind of digital architecture that wins awards, as indeed it has. Technically, the use of the curved, laminated glass with sufficient strength to support the water on the roof without heavy mullions was an engineering breakthrough, and essential to the dematerialization theme. But the brief was to create a permanent work of architecture, and in that respect a visitor to the pavilion today can only be disappointed.

To get there follow these instructions. It is located in Haarlemmermeer, which is a small town just next to the southwest corner of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. The Hydra Pavilion is on the northwest side of the Floriade lake, itself to the northwest edge of Haarlemmermeer.

To get there by car or taxi from Schiphol Airport, take the A4 towards the southwest, and turn right onto the N201 through Haarlemmermeer. On the far side of town, where this road is called Kruisweg, turn right onto the N205 (Drie Merenweg).