Cars ranging from super-luxury to environmentally smart and modest are now on display at AutoRai 2009 in Amsterdam. Another feature is the 110 Years of AutoRai classic car section. There's also a chance to test drive some of the most powerful SUV's on the planet.

The show started today and will be running through April 11th. Tickets are €16.50/€18.50 on weekends. Kids 14 and under admitted for free.

Exciting news for Leiden dwellers! A new post office is opening on the Haarlemmerstraat 56, located in the Sigarenmagazijn Opdam. Until now the locations of the post offices have been so inconvenient (well, I’m lazy) that I avoid going at all costs. Not any more!

The post office will be open on Monday from 13.00-17.30, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 9.30 to 17.30 and Thursday ‘til 21.30, and on Saturdays from 9.30 to 17.00.

What to do on such a fine weekend:

Saturday-

Kubus & BangBang at Melkweg; 9pm, €13 plus membership.

Globalization Bazaar Bears Feat. DJ Ishtar and Polyesta; 10pm, €8.

Akadinda, minimal music from Uganda; 12:30pm, free.

Sunday -

Jazz Orchetra of the Concertgebouw feat. Peter Beets; 8:30pm, €16.

The Radio Philharmonic Orchestra plays concertbebouw, featuring Maria João Pires on Piano; 11am, €16.50.

Lastly from 12 to 6pm its the "Spring is in the Air Market" at Westerpark.

Another sushi recommendation for Trippist followers – this time in The Hague. It’s called Momiji Sushi. Great décor, incredibly fast service – we got in on a Saturday night without a reservation and were finished within an hour. If you’re really in a hurry you can even choose to sit at one of those revolving food counters.

The sushi’s great, too. They have a number of set menus with sushi and sashimi mix. We ordered menu B, which cost 18.50/person. It was more than enough and delicious.

Momiji Sushi is a 10-15 minute walk from Den Hague Central Station. It’s located at Rabbijn Maarssenplein 1.

No not the day, but indeed the venue of the big Queen's Day concerts is moving to Westerpark this year. This includes the party on the night of the 29th, Queen's Night, and the day itself, the 30th, which is filled with big live acts on stage all day long.

The festivities have previously been held at the Amstelveld which has been overfilled over the past few years, and led to lots of noise complaints from residents in the center of the city.

As the day nears I'll dig up more information about what and who, making sure you know your options for the biggest party of the year in Amsterdam.

Students from Delft have been testing out the effect of smell on nightclub goers. In other words, looking into what effect different types of scents can have when pumped into the air at some prominent clubs in the cities of Leiden, Delft and Utrecht. The question is especially interesting to club owners as ever since the smoking ban, we naturally notice bad smells in public spaces, especially night spots where everyone used to smoke.

Their conclusion was that the slight scent of orange in the air led club goers to stay longer and made their overall experience a positive one. Other scents they tried out: strawberry, peppermint and cinnamon. All of which resulted in increased revenues when they were used, though orange scored higher than all of them.

Now that their research is done, the students have turned their research into a company. They're called Moodscent.nl and the next time you're at a nightclub in the Netherlands and you experience the joy of a slight smell of orange in the air, you know who to thank.

When you die, what becomes of your online identity? This thought-provoking question is addressed in the current exhibition at Mediamatic in Amsterdam. From the website:

What happens to your online profile after you die? Do you want it to remain online, so friends can leave a message in your memory? Or do you prefer having it deleted, so no confusion can arise about your death? These questions are the inspiration for the new exhibition Ik R.I.P., the third in the series about self-representation on the internet.

With The Travelers by Elizabeth Heyert, coffins from Ghana, the computergame The Graveyard, 'test-dying' in a coffin, workshops Coffin for your Beloved, the new website www.ikrip.nl and more.

The exhibition runs through 12 April, so be quick! Mediamatic is located on Vijzelstraat 68, and is open Wed - Fri from 12.00 to 19.00 hrs, and Sat + Sun from 12.00 to 18.00 hrs. If you can’t make it, you can still set up some digital last wishes here.

Amsterdam has its first free mobile guide! Here's more info from the release:

For the first time, travelers to Holland will be able to use an iPhone or a mobile web browser to explore the city of Amsterdam from the palm of their hand! The Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions, dedicated to providing free advice and resources on travel to Holland, announces the launch of the Amsterdam Mobile Guide—a new, free iPhone application available now in the Apple App Store. Anyone with a mobile web browser can also view the Amsterdam Mobile Guide here.
The Amsterdam Mobile Guide provides iPhone users with striking images and regularly updated information on Amsterdam’s most popular attractions, including museums, restaurants and bars, hotels, shopping and much more. Whether a visitor is planning a trip or already in Holland, the Amsterdam Mobile Guide points travelers to “must-sees” in Amsterdam while providing easy ways to contact any of the nearly 200 venues of interest by phone, email or the web, directly from the application. Helpful features such as Google Maps and the GPS “Near Me” function assist travelers in finding their way around Amsterdam in real-time, making it easier than ever to navigate Amsterdam’s historic canals and shopping districts.
For new visitors, the Amsterdam Mobile Guide includes thoughtfully designed itineraries specific to an 8, 48, or 72-hour trip to Amsterdam. Travelers can create their own itineraries on-the-go by setting personal preferences and choosing from categories like Entertainment, Attractions, Gay and Lesbian, Night Life, Shopping, Restaurants and Architecture to create a unique Amsterdam experience.

Users can get more detailed information on all the features of the Amsterdam Mobile Guide here.

Attention, Netherlands-dwellers with an iPhone or iPod touch: I have some incredible news for you! An incredible application has been developed that will revolutionize the way you approach train travel.

The application is called Trein, and it is what the NS should have done a long time ago with the technology at its disposal. You can use this application to check train times and platforms and most importantly – check on delays. The application is actually faster and more accurate than the information you receive at the train station. It’s incredible! Other features (from the website):

– View realtime departure times for the nearest station and your preferred stations – Quickly add nearest stations to your list of preferred stations – View disturbances and railworks – Plan trips using the planner that will remember your planned trips (requires an internet connection) – Support for iNap so that you'll be woken when you reach your destination

Of course NS is having a fit and is saying that this application violates copyright. My two cents? Get over it, or make your own application. Trein has made train travel in the Netherlands bearable and almost fun again!

It was formerly known as Ingang B, a cafe-restaurant tucked out of the way within the squat-hospital complex known as the WG Terrain. Ingang B boasted a theater right next door and a disappointingly expensive menu.

But then it closed and days later after some shuffling around, a new sign went up outside this cozy café, which read: WG Café. Suddenly there was outdoor seating a-plenty, an affordable menu filled with with Dutch and international cuisine items made with love. Of course being tucked away in a corner where there is pretty much zero traffic is still a bonus in this part of town, that part hasn't changed.

Still, when it comes to rebranding and the rebirth of cafés, the WG Café has done a great job of taking a long existing space that wasn't turning any heads, and making it into the kind of place where you're glad to came by and you might just do it more often. (click the link for a google map, walking distance from Vondelpark)

(also they're really into doing simple weddings, if you're into that)

Looking for a beautiful getaway inside the borders of the Netherlands? Bed of Flowers is an incredible Bed and Breakfast located about an hour southeast of Amsterdam, close to the village of Beuningen. The photos on the website say it all.

From the B&B it is possible to enjoy biking trails and some walking as well: you can see a castle from the 14th century (Doddendaal) after a 15-minute hike.

Two different rooms are available and are prices at €95 per night for two persons including a breakfast made with local cuisine.

Much of this week I will be in Utrecht. Its only about 30 minutes by train from Amsterdam so I'll be commuting back and forth, and in between taking photos, visiting interesting spots, and reporting back to you about what I find.

As preparation for the week, I was thinking we should review the fundamentals about Utrecht:

4th Largest City in the Netherlands - 300,030 people.

Utrecht University, Largest and Highest Rated University in the Netherlands

Dom Tower, tallest and most important landmark in center city.

Centrally Located within the Netherlands, means regular trains to any city in the country.

Gerrit Rietveld, architect and designer, was from Utrecht

Major hub for Eurolines, the bus company that connects to all of Europe

I'm not exactly sure how it works or why is was built, but I'm very curious about the singing tower in Utrecht. The fifty meter tall tower is filled with glass bells of different tones that can be played kind of like an organ. It will officially be inaugurated this sunday, but today they released news footage of the first public test of the singing tower.

The structure is located at Cultuurcampus Vleuterweide, part of the modern new neighborhood of Utrecht known as Leidsche Rijn.

If you'd like to see images of the building of the glass bells, click here. To watch video of the news item which includes some sounds from the tower, follow this link.

It is said that an old law in Utrecht forbids any building from being taller than the beloved Dom tower in the heart of the city. And when you look around the Dom, that does seem to have been respected. Unless you look towards the part of town behind Central Station, where Rabobank is building two towers that will eventually be taller than the Dom.

While the Dom is 112m tall, the new Rabobank towers will stand 120m tall, that is - when you add on the TV antennas that will go on top. Somehow this technicality means that once they are completed in 2010, the Dom will no longer be the tallest building in town.

On my way to the convention center this afternoon, I snapped a picture of the towers which are very much under construction at this point. Also if you're curious about architecture and city scapers, here is a look at what the towers will look like, once they are completed.

You find yourself in Utrecht on a beautiful sunny spring afternoon, and although there is so much to look at and do, you've got to sit down and do some work. You look for a café, a place with room enough for you to have a snack or a drink and also get some work done. Oh, and you'll need some wifi to go along with a friendly atmosphere. Here's a suggestion: Toque Toque.

TT is in the heart of Utrecht, along the oud gracht, and whether its a beautiful day and you want to sit outside or its an ugly day and you want to hide inside and chat with friends or do some work, they've got room for you. Besides being a huge place, TT also features a solid menu, happy-go-lucky staff, normal prices, and most importantly for us internauts, free wifi (just ask for the password). I even noticed they do meetings and events, if that's your thing.

Before getting down to work I enjoyed their custom pizza-broodje with pineapple, which is a sandwich you won't find too often in the Netherlands. It was so delicious I decided their apple pie must be worth a taste, and indeed... it tasted yummy. I then sat down and caught up with much work while occasionally getting distracted by the staff hijinks or customer behavior.

All in all, I'm going to start calling Toque Toque, my field office when I'm in Utrecht.

Things have been kind of quiet here in Leiden for the past week or so. Not much to write about. It could be because the weather has been uncharacteristically fabulous. The outdoor terraces are again full of sun worshipers and we’re all holding our breath, waiting for the good luck to end.

In the meantime, I’ve wandered over to trusty Expatica.com to have a look at their news in brief, complements of Radio Netherlands. A few tidbits from today:

*Latest figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reveal the Dutch economy will shrink by 4.8 percent in 2009.

*Trouw reports the number of people who died in traffic accidents dropped significantly in 2008.

*The campaign to have Sesame Street restored to its original broadcast time of 18:30 in the evening is back.

Pretty exciting, huh? Now back to enjoying the sun.

Yankee Come Back is the title of the current Boom Chicago show in honor of the 400-year-long relationship between The Netherlands and the US. From the website:

This year marks the 400 year anniversary of the Dutch founding of New York, then New Amsterdam. In a multimedia spectacle of sharp sketches, improvisation, videos, internet and live music, the actors of Boom Chicago examine the relationship between the two countries that has lasted 400 years. How will that relationship continue in the future and how do both groups think about themselves and each other?

Tickets can be purchased online. Tickets are €20 and €24 on the weekends. Boom Chicago has its own kitchen so you can combine the show with dinner or just with drinks, depending on your preference. Boom Chicago is located in Leidseplein, Amsterdam.

It’s almost here – the infamous Queen’s Day is almost upon us. Unless you plan to escape the country a couple days in advance and return after the mess has been cleaned up, you might want a bit more information about why this crazy holiday is celebrated each year.

For that, you can check out this website. Unfortunately it’s only in Dutch, but it has really pretty pictures of all the royalty. You can also learn that the Queen and the members of the Royal Family will celebrate Queen’s Day this year in Apeldoorn. The mayor invited them so I guess they couldn’t refuse.

In case you haven’t picked up a Dutch tabloid lately, you can also learn more about the little princesses and where they stand in line for the throne. Not a bad way to practice your Dutch.

Well the clock is ticking, less than 48 hours to Queen's Day 2009! Every year the country's biggest party gets more elaborate and some might argue, more regulated.
Scanning the horizon for new developments for Queens Day I've noticed this huge digital signs set up at strategic locations around town.

The idea is that there will be specific routes to guide people more efficiently across town on the big day. Typically on Queen's Day, just walking through the center of town is an adventure as the streets are filled with people from near and far who come to celebrate. But now the city has devised a color coded route system marked by these big displays.

Orange= Through the Jordaan to Leidseplein Blue= Though Spui and Leidseplein eventually arriving at Museumplein Red= Via Nieuwmarkt to Rembrandtplein

Those are the most important. If you come across Green or Yellow those are alternate routes to Museumplein.

Will the system help at all? If you find yourself in Amsterdam in a sea of people dressed in orange, making no walking progress, then you'll know it isn't working. Then again, the fun is everywhere on Queen's Day, no matter where the signs are trying to lead you.

Want to learn more about the religion that evolved from slavery? The Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam has a fascinating exhibition on until 10 May. The exhibition features more than 250 objects from the Lehmann collection, one of the most important collections on Haiti. From the website:

The exhibition shows how these objects and the accompanying rituals are a part of the daily life on Haiti. They have been made and used by secret societies, and have rarely been shown outside Haiti. The life-size images, complete altars and fascinating art objects paint a picture of this mysterious religion with her African, Christian and Indian elements.

The Tropenmuseum is open daily from 10 am - 5 pm. Regular adult entrance is €8, with various discounts available. You can reach the Tropenmuseum via tram 2, 7, 9, 10 or 14, visiting address Linnaeusstraat 2.

The big day is almost upon us: Queen’s Day 2009. If you’re getting ready to head out on the town, here’s a few interesting tidbits that may facilitate your fun.

Let’s start with the slightly boring but very important. I Amsterdam lists a number of rules and regulations in regard to the celebration of Queen's Day, particularly in relation to opening times, alcohol consumption and live music regulations. I like the regulation regarding individual alcohol consumption: If you are carrying more than one drink you could be considered an alcohol dealer and risk confiscation. One drink at a time, please!

Amsterdamz.com offers lots of information about Queen’s Day, including what color you should wear (hmmm….). They also have a special Queen’s Day page with a comprehensive list of relevant events.

Finally, DutchAmsterdam.nl offers a number of tips for tourists on Queen’s Day. For example, there is no public transportation running in the center of Amsterdam, and the lockers are closed at the Central Station. They also scanned a print copy of 2008 Queen’s Day map. Enjoy!

As I type this the people outside are yelling, for no particular reason other than it is Queen's night. However this entry isn't about the rowdy folks on the streets of Amsterdam, it is about one of the many activities in Rotterdam during Queens Day (today!)

If you can get yourself to the Leuvehaven, which is right near the Erasmus bridge, you can be a part of the Queen's Day Dance Festival. The event starts at 14h and runs throughout the afternoon. It will feature various DJ's and musical acts all with the purpose of inspiring you to dance.

Admission is €5 and with that you have the right to dance-dance-dance. Here's a map if you need it. While on this blog you'll hear lots about whats going on in Amsterdam this Queen's day, I want to give full credit to other great parties in other great cities in the Netherlands, especially Rotterdam.