Amsterdam Tourism

Squatting is (besides lowering your backside between your ankles) entering a premise without the owner’s permission for habitation, iow, you move into someone else’s place without asking him and feel fine about it. Of course, the said premise has to be unoccupied and preferably for a considerable time, like a year or so. Until recently, … Read more

             Cautery/slave mark. Suriname, before 1877. Slaves were branded with a slave mark; it contained the initials of their master. The picture is courtesy of the Tropical museum Amsterdam. The society of Suriname owned the colony of Suriname. The society consisted of three groups, and the city of Amsterdam was one of them. Profits were important … Read more

It seems the creators of the Canon of Amsterdam had great difficulty in finding suitable historical events to make up the “sacred” number of fifty. One of these dubious subjects to me is number 4 of the Canon, the great fire of 1421. We all know what a city-wide fire is. The great fire of … Read more

Het Aepjen is one of Amsterdam’s most interesting pubs, for one because it’s one of the oldest ones in the city and secondly. After all, it’s one of the oldest locations in Amsterdam. It’s on the corner of the Zeedijk, near Central Station. Zeedijk means “sea dike” in Dutch; it’s, therefore, fair to assume that … Read more

The general or common trading paper would be a fair translation of what we Dutchmen know as Het Algemeen Handelsblad. The paper no longer exists but is important in history as it was instrumental in shaping what Dutch newspapers have become. Somewhat trivial a subject, perhaps, but it’s not the only one on the canon … Read more

The Bijlmermeer, or The Bijlmer as it’s usually referred to, is a high rise residential area to the South East of Amsterdam. It was to be the suburban pearl of the city. Its apartments were extremely spacious, with lots of windows, lots of light, set in park-like surroundings. Everyone’s dream house. But it was not … Read more