Exactly the right note.
Conservatorium Hotel Amsterdam.
Been to Jerusalem lately? You did? Maybe you stayed in the Mamila hotel and liked it as much as I did. Beautiful building, with a serene minimalist interior from the hand of maestro Piero Lissoni. He’s playing exactly the right note in his newest creation: the Conservatorium Hotel in Amsterdam.
It opens later this summer as an event space. Rooms can be booked from September. It occupies a 19th century brick building that used to be a music academy. Glass is the dominent material used in the respectful re-design. A glass-covered 20-metre- high atrium houses the lobby. The restaurant is spectacular. The atrium also houses the brasserie where chef Schilo van Coevorden is in charge. The hotel, and its spa, is set to become a chic hangout for visitors as well as locals with the ritzy shops of the PC Hoofstraat and the Van Baerlestraat nearby, as well as popular attractions like the Stedelijk, Rijks and Van Gogh museums just around the corner.
Van Baerlestraat 27 Amsterdam
020-670 1811
Doubles from Eur. 400
www.conservatoriumhotel.com
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September’s elections killed a lot of birds with one stone. Extremist parties on the left and right were decimated, consensus politics was restored to the centre of Dutch life, and anti-euro sentiment was put firmly in its place. Sobriety at last. The media played a major role. It has turned into the king-maker of The Netherlands. We’ve become used to... Read More »
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New issue available
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September’s elections killed a lot of birds with one stone. Extremist parties on the left and right were decimated, consensus politics was restored to the centre of Dutch life, and anti-euro sentiment was put firmly in its place. Sobriety at last. The media played a major role. It has turned into the king-maker of The Netherlands. We’ve become used to... Read More »
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Headstrong parliamentarian Geert Wilders is seen by many, or at least by himself, as the ‘successor’ of Fortuyn. His intellect and the way he presents himself are a far cry from the front man of the LPF, but he is successful. The Dutch political landscape is not easy for foreigners to understand for foreigners. The main reason is the extraordinary... Read More »
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Organized group-tours across Europe are enormously popular. Countless Americans, British and Asian tourists engage in voyages that guide them past the tourist attractions Europe has to offer, such as Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel tower in Paris and the ring of canals of Europe’s ‘sin city’; Amsterdam. However one wonders whether these cultural explorers experience the ‘real’ Europe. The Internat… Read More »
Have no fear – Germany is here
Germany is increasingly taking the lead in the handling of the euro crisis…and critics are raising the usual fears of German domination. But, according to Mark Maathuis, there’s no other solution. Germany’s impressive economic management can be the engine to pull the entire continent out of the doldrums. The country seems to have come to terms with its decades-old... Read More »
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Around the turn of the century, the well-read social scientist, writer and politician Pim Fortuyn (1948-2002) dropped a political bomb in The Hague. As leader of his own right-wing party LPF, he justly criticized many prominent politicians for their failure to address certain problems in Dutch society. The Dutch political landscape is not easy for foreigners to understand for foreigners.... Read More »
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East meets west in Mochi – an unexpected culinary hot spot tucked away on the Mallemolen in the trendy Denneweg section of The Hague. With a menu combining South American and Japanese influences, Mochi is as fun and distinctive as its name. Owner and chef Patrick Buyze is a Dutch native who studied throughout Asia and is married to... Read More »
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The Dutch political landscape is not easy for foreigners to understand for foreigners. The main reason is the extraordinary number of political parties in Holland, a phenomenon that has only gained importance since the rise and deadly fall of the flamboyant taboo-breaking politician Pim Fortuyn. This booklet can be seen as a much slimmeddown version of Andeweg and Irwin’s treatise.... Read More »
Beauty and banality
For tourists, there’s the museums. But expats resident in The Netherlands will be expected to display insider knowledge of the country’s current culture when they return home. Beverwijk’s Black Market beckons. t o me, the black market is a journey through time and space. There, I feel like Marco Polo discovering the riches of far-flung lands and peoples, the... Read More »
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PVV top splits over ‘lack of...
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