The Ij Brewery, Amsterdam's beloved microbrewery in a windmill, is celebrating its 25th year making beer. In honor of this anniversary, they've brewed a special Jubilee edition in the basement (where they brew all their beer).

Note that among the things that make the Ij Brewery special - all of their beers are organic, unfiltered, unpasteurized, and brewed and bottled on premises. They're located in the East of Amsterdam, a short bike ride from the Maritime Museum. Operating hours are daily, from 3pm to 8pm. Tours of the brewery take place Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. A fine time to experience this unique Amsterdam destination.

Tomorrow is Hemelvaart, assention day, a beloved holiday where the Dutch kick back, relax, and weather permitting - go out and enjoy themselves. Many will do the barbecue thing at a friends house or at the park, others will choose to go to a nice restaurant or café. If you happen to be someone looking for a nice big outdoor festival during the day, I have just the thing for you: Hemeltjelief.

Hemeltkelief is a self proclaimed, party for sweet people. So if you fit the criteria, the fun is taking place in Amsterdam North at the NDSM wharf. There will be a long list of music, art, and food for your indulgence. Among the international musical acts are: Mdungu, Les Chevals, Correspondence, Brazzaville, The Stokers, Cool Genius and Dent Tex.
The website includes a long list of children's activities making this festival as fun for kids as it is for adults.

The full festival combi pass costs €20 and a regular ticket costs €13. The combi ticket gets you into the after party that starts at 11pm and will go all night. The festival takes place all day long followed by the afterparty for those who prefer the darkness.

I'm landing back in Amsterdam just in time for the biggest annual nation wide fiesta in the Netherlands, Queens Day. I did this on purpose as although I love to travel, being in town for Queen's Day is always a pleasure. This year, despite the looming threat of a garbage collection strike, the city is still getting ready for another classic.

As part of the preperations, I found an I Amsterdam Queen's Day Iphone App. Of course my first recommendation of Iphone apps for NL tourism is our very own! But for this specific event, try out the Queen's Day app, its actually part of their regular app with a special feature for this specific holiday.

Features include updates about what is happening where and how the fun is progressing in various parts of the city. Kind of like a traffic report for partying.

Expatica.com is well known for their expat speeddate events in different parts of the Netherlands. The turnout is quite good and according to several reliable sources, lots of those dates go well and occasionally end up becoming long term partnerships.

Building on their respected reputation in the realm of speed dating, this month expatica will host a Gay SpeedDate night in Amsterdam. On Saturday, March 20th, gay men are invited to Café Esprit in Amsterdam, and for 35€ you get two drinks and a chance to briefly meet other singles. According to their page there is only room for about 50 men and the average age of participants is between 30 and 45.

Doors open at 7:45pm and the event runs til 10pm. At which time an after party will start, for those who still think the night is young. The site makes no mention of women, so we can assume this is not a lesbian SpeedDate night. When that event does occur we'll be sure and post that info on trippist as well.

Planning to ring in 2010 in the Netherlands? There are more parties to choose from than you could possibly imagine. Just to give you one example, check out djguide.nl's extensive list of parties alphabetized by Dutch cities.

Since I'm in Leiden, that's what I'll focus on in this post. City Hall, probably the coolest weekend club in Leiden and the best option for a dance party, is hosting a New Year's Eve bash ("Ongekend Nye"). It costs EUR 17.5 in advance and EUR 20 at the door, and will run from half past 12 until 5am.

If Latin music is more your thing, Dos Bailadores will throw a party as well, called "Decadent New Year's Party." It starts at 23.30 (runs until 3am) and will cost EUR 15 to get in. You'll dance to music like Salsa, Mambo, Bachata, Merengue, and Zouk.

In Casa, the teenyboppers club that sometimes has more mature nights, will also be toasting in the New Year. Their party is called "Ball Masque" and given that it only costs EUR 2 to get in, probably best to leave this one to the teenagers.

Check the links for more information. Happy celebrations!

There is indeed a Starbucks in Amsterdam Centraal.
This picture was snapped just the other day.
I didn't try the coffee, but the place was packed.
Definitely a new destination in an ever-evolving train station in Amsterdam!

If you're just visiting or you simply don't have many friends, finding a Halloween party in Amsterdam is not an easy task. And while running after people on bikes wearing costumes might be one way to find something, here comes a list of my top three parties for your consideration this weekend.

1 - Boom Chicago's Halloween Thriller

Not only is the theme horror movies, but the party will actually be made into a horror movie. Or so they say. Whatever they make out of it, Boom is always the place for funny and creative, so what better place to get your scare on. Plus there will be cash prizes and other contests. Things kick off at 10pm and entry costs 22€ at the door, but only 18€50 pre-sale. Check the site for details or to buy tickets.

2 - Paradiso's Halloween Hairball

From the basement to the Kleine Zaal upstairs, the entire building will be one giant hair party. Beards, chest hair, afro's, whatever you got or can get, this is the place to flaunt it. Talk about horrific, there's no telling what hairstyles will walk in. The party starts at 11pm and tickets will run you 15€. Full details here.

3 - Café Oudeherbergh

You won't find many details about this one on the internet unless you're part of some expat communities, but there will be many a costume present. Things should start around 9:30pm and its hosted by the core members of Amsterdam's couch surfing community, so if you're in need of a place to sleep as well as a place to party, this might be a chance to kill two birds with one stone. Address here.

Amsterdam summers are filled with parties that resemble festivals and festivals that become giant parties. They tend to take place in interesting buildings or appropriated spaces that used to serve some other purpose. Of course being the international hub that it is, you always have both DJ's from around the world and DJ's from right down the street.

Presale tickets run about €30 and it makes sense to buy them beforehand just in case. You can buy them online or at select record shops in Amsterdam. That's Saturday the 29th of August and its a full day party starting at, read carefully now, 11am. Festivities will continue until 11pm at night. Directions and lots more info about who is spinning from what city in what corner of the world, all that can be found on the website.

The summer highlight of the theater calender has arrived in Amsterdam. Actually its been going on for several days now, the Parade is taking place down at Martin Luther King Park on the Amstel river.

People might warn you that Parade is very Dutch-language centered and not interesting if you don't speak the language, but I would argue that there is plenty for everyone and plenty to see and experience that transcends language. The action goes beyond theater, with many musicians, film makers and even good eats available to you everyday from now til August 16th.

Please note that you can only get tickets to a particular performance about 30 minutes before it begins so arrive early and be prepared to stand on line for the most popular shows. Better details and further info, including the daily schedule, available on their website.

Just for fun, here's a video from a past Parade performance:

File this one under "now I know":

Research by a fancy Dutch marketing research group indicates that the official summer drink of 2009 is... drum roll - Prosecco! Yes the Italian sparkling wine is everywhere this summer, I can testify to that effect. Whether I'm at a BBQ in vondelpark, or attending a friend's birthday party in Noord, everyone seems to offer me Prosecco, which immediately makes me think they just came from Italy.

Indeed this prosecco that is all the rage in Amsterdam right now is cheap and readily available at any grocery store (our most popular being Albert Hein). For those of you who don't care how popular prosecco is, fear not - there is plenty of beer, wine and any other drink available to you as always.