h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Lighten up! It's a joke! Remember what a joke is?

you can NEVER joke about Anne Frank!

her life story is too important to joke about, because she represent the surfering of children in world war 2 and in some ways children now.

I will not lighten up and if I was not so irritating nice I would ignore you from now.

I am realy angry about this.

with respect for life it self!
pheloxi

I agree with pheloxi
It was in bad taste.

Just one cultural thing, in Holland they put straws in your drink. It's a normal thing, and there's no reason to start yelling at the bartender. *ahem*

Until you act 'real' Dutch and ask for one coke with five straws for the whole party

Straws from the stable floor? Or colourful plastic ones? Even in beer? ?

(Was in Holland this summer and didn't particularly notice .. so what kind of drink do you mean, Xanatic?)

He means the colourfull plastic version.
As it was meant originally for children, you may find them in all sorts of softdrinks. Occasionally also in expensive and colourfull cocktails (for grownups).

Never in .

thank Bob for that, I had enough of drinking through a straw when I had my hand in plaster .

I'm just waiting for confirmation that the booking is and then hopefully we'll see you in Amsterdam on May 12th

I'll pencil that date into my diary then. Maybe I can hop on a train and meet up with you?

shazz

I was wondering how long it would take you to post in here.

That would be great Shaz! the more the merrier . I'll even bring the Flat Cap & Muffler Sports & Social Club Official .

The coach will drop us off at the Centraal Station but I'm not sure what time yet. I'll let you know

Hello Granny Weatherwax

Just wanted to contribute my , since I actually live in Amsterdam. (Just two cents, though, since I'm Dutch and have to keep up the reputation of my proud people. )

First of all, Centraal Station is a good place to start, because it is the public transportation hub. If you intend to use public transport a lot, you might want to buy a day ticket, which is valid for all trams, busses, the subway and even trains within the city limits. Otherwise, you'd have to get aquainted with the so-called strip-ticket, which is not the most clear-cut system in the world. The GVB (Gemeente Vervoers Bedrijf, or 'Municipal Transport Company') is responsible for public transport and has its ticket shop right in front of the station. You can find all you need to know on their web site:

http://www.gvb.nl/

Another very useful site is that of the UitBuro, which has a lot of info on cultural events and coordinates ticket sales. Unfortunately, it's in Dutch, but if you know that 'tentoonstellingen' means 'exhibitions' and 'zoeken' means 'search', you can get quite a long way. It also has a lot of links to sites of theatres and museums.

http://amsterdam.uitlijn.nl/index.cfm?fuseaction=home

On museums: If your tastes are more conventional than torture or cannabis, there are quite a few interesting ones. However, two of the most famous, the Rijksmuseum and the Stedelijk Museum are currently being overhauled and (partly) closed, though parts of their collections, including famous paintings like the Night Watch, are on display elsewhere in the city. Just google a bit to find out where. The Van Gogh Museum is good, but often very busy, as someone has already said. The same goes for the Anne Frank House (which no longer looks like a picturesque old building; it too has been renovated to cope with the many tourists and now looks very modern, from the outside, at least). A few others are:

- Allard Pierson Museum: Archeological collection of the University of Amsterdam, centered around the great Classical civilisations: Greek, Roman, Egypt and more.

- Amsterdams Historisch Museum: The history of Amsterdam.

- NEMO: Science, good if you've got kids with you. Lots of interactive and playful exhibits.

- Nieuwe Kerk (New Church): On Dam Square. Various single exhibitions. An earlier poster already mentioned it.

- Scheepvaartmuseum: Naval history.

- Tropenmuseum: (Mostly) anthropological, focusing on the tropics.

- Kattenkabinet (Cat Cabinet): unfortunately closed for building work, too, but you might enjoy their website

http://www.kattenkabinet.nl/html/kattenkabinet_dhtml.html

There's a small botanical garden (Hortus Botanicus), not exactly Kew but nice enough, and a zoo (Artis), which also boasts a great collection of trees, a planetarium, an aquarium and some additional museums (all free admission for zoo visitors).

For a canal trip you can take a boat ('On your right you'll see...') or, if the weather's nice, hire a 'canal bike' (you'd have to pedal yourself, but you can also choose your own route).

And if you fancy a drink after all that exitement, as (Archangel) Marjin said a 'proeflokaal' is a good idea. They're often linked to small breweries or distilleries, so you're bound to get drinks there you won't get in normal bars.

Some final pointers: If you're standing in front of Centraal Station, facing towards Dam Square, this is what you can find, clockwise. To the east of the station, along the IJ (the water that divides Amsterdam in two), there's a big redevelopment project, with lots of modern architecture. To the south-east is the infamous red light district, and just to the south of that a part of the inner city with a lot of second-hand bookstores. City Hall, the Opera and the Waterlooplein flea market are also located here. To the south is Dam Square, to the south and slightly to the west are the Nieuwendijk and Kalverstraat, two of the busiest (and tackiest) shopping streets. To the west of them you'll find arguably the nicest part of the old city center, with canals, old buildings, little shops and bars (and another red light district, a small one this time).

Enjoy your stay!

Nite Owl

Oooooh! Another vict... er, potential member of the Dutch Researchers Club eh? May we include you among our select band?

shazz

Well, alright, as long as it doesn't involve any strange initiation rituals, or an admission fee.

shazz is and very good hostess.

pheloxi°

shazz

Nite Owl, what a lot of lovely links and info, thank you very much . If you're not doing anything on the 12th May perhaps you could join us as well?

back to finish reading the links

May I add to the links the Dutch sister of the famous Hermitage of St Petersburg, with currently an exposition of art about Venice in the 18th century.
http://www.hermitage.nl/en/

The former exhibition about Greek gold was fabulous, alas I missed Nicolas and Alexandre.

And Granny, maybe you should start thinking about what you want of the day, have a bunch of hootooers trailing you all day in an informal meet, or have a privat tour first and a talk in a pub at the end.
After all, it is your prize so it is your choice.

If there is a meet in the afternoon, I could be on the next gracht, to pick up redfishy

Thanks for the invitation, Granny W. I don't know yet if I'm free on May 12th, but I'll definitely keep it in mind. And I agree with Marjin; it's your trip, not a hootoo-outing (unless you want it to be).