From the Inside Flap
These ingenious city guides package a concise full-color miniguide together with a full-size color map in a sturdy plastic sleeve. This convenient two-in-one travel resource is perfect for the on-the-go traveler who only needs the highlights in brief.
The Miniguide*Color photos throughout
*The top 25 attractions
*Itineraries, walks, tours, and excursions
*Capsule reviews of key hotels, restaurants, shops, nightlife, and more
Concise travel facts about getting there and getting around
The Foldout Map*Detailed city coverage in full color
*Fully indexed
*Neighborhood blowups
*Public transport, hotels, points of interest, parks, and more -- all listed on map
*Easy to store in durable plastic sleeve
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Introducing Amsterdam
Once a bustling trading port, Amsterdam has a vibrant core that is unlike any other Western European city. A small town with a cosmopolitan veneer, this city allows you to be whoever you would like to be and guides you to unexpected discoveries at every turn. Today the city has two personalities: a cultural 17th-century city built on canals and an important international business center. Its multilingual workforce, its prime central location, and lax tax laws have combined to draw business giants from around the globe. Established multinationals as varied as IBM and Sony as well as newer, technology-oriented dot.coms have taken advantage of the many resources the city has to offer. Even so, it requires only a little imagination and a gentle dose of moonlight to replace the traffic, telephone booths, construction, and souvenir shops with the romance of the canals.
An additional draw is the depth of cultural heritage to be found in its great art museums. Amsterdam's museums are filled with some of the best art in the Western world. There are the home-grown Old Masters in the galleries and art museums, as well as works by artists such as Georg Breitner, who roamed Amsterdam with his friend Vincent van Gogh and produced atmospheric scenes of the city at night and in winter. But don't judge Amsterdam art solely on its history; there is also a wealth of contemporary art. Long an inspiration for generations of artists, the attractive canals and gabled houses are popular subjects for today's Sunday painters. You can find them displaying their latest work along the water.
The city's pragmatic, liberal attitudes explain its famous Walletjes, or Red Light District, where prostitutes display their wares in the windows facing the city's oldest church (Oude Kerk). While urban misconception often portrays the Netherlands as condoning indiscriminate drug trade, in reality the Netherlands, more than many other countries, distinguishes between hard and soft drugs. It is possible to smoke a joint in a designated coffee shop since it allows "soft drugs" in small doses. It's also easy to join the locals for a drink or a cold beer on a terrace or in one of the famous brown caf?s, where years of nicotine have stained the walls.
You can skim the surface of the museums and get a glimpse of the canals in two to three days, but to really savor the city's charm, a week is recommended. The city is best in the spring when the parks and window boxes are filled with flowers (yes, tulips abound), and you can get a clear view of the gables between the branches of trees not yet in full leaf. Winters can be icy, with biting winds, but one of the compensations of frozen canals is ice-skating. Afterward, warm yourself with some hearty (pea soup) from stands on the ice.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
