Amsterdam is one of the coolest cities in Europe. Beautiful, hip, and laid back, with lots to do, lots to see, many pubs, food from all over the world and friendly people. A visit to this very beautiful city is sometimes like taking a walk in the 17th century, as the center of Amsterdam has a lot of charming architecture dating from this period. This is an excellent city to tour on foot or bicycle. However, while Amsterdam may boast a lot of 17th century architecture, that’s about all that’s old fashioned about the place.

In summer one of the best places to go for a relaxing afternoon is the Vondelpark. It is a great park, right in the center of things and very lively. With a bit of luck you can catch a (free) outdoor concert near the water. There are also a few trendy places in the park where you can sit and have a beer, such as the Blauwe Theehuis.

If you like to watch people strolling by, a perfect place is Leidseplein.  Leidseplein(=square) is bustling with activity and terraces in summertime. Another nice square is  Rembrandtplein – nice cafe’s and again terraces If you like spare ribs – visit De Klos just off the Leidsestraat. Beer is everywhere and it is all good.

Amsterdam was originally built on the shores of the saltwater Zuiderzee, but as a result of centuries of land-reclamation projects Zuiderzee was renamed Ijsselmeer after it was separated from the  sea by a dike and became a freshwater lake.  Thus the city now borders the freshwater of IJsselmeer.

The center of Amsterdam is shaped like a horseshoe, surrounded by four famous canals called the Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht. These are best to walk along if you want to see the city’s beautiful gabled houses.  To get from one place to another quickly, get on a tram.  Lines 1, 2, and 5 go from Centraal Station through the Dam, up the Leidsestraat to the Leidseplein, and this path is a good place to start when learning how to get from here to there.

There are lots of interesting small shops for browsing and there are also bigger shopping centers. Clusters of shops can be found in the pedestrian passages and even in the old post office, which is right behind the central Dam Square (on which you can find the Dam Palace).

And then, of course, there is the world famous (or infamous, depending on how you look at it) Red Light District, which consists of several canals and the side streets between them, south of Central Station and east of Damrak. They are known as ‘De Wallen’ (the walls) in Dutch, because the canals were once part of the city defenses (walls and moats). Despite the area’s reputation, prostitution itself is limited to certain streets, mainly side streets and alleys, and while there are many adult shops and peep show bars, the whole area has a heavy police presence, and many security cameras.

In addition, it is still a residential district, with many bars and restaurants as well as historic buildings and museums; this is, after all the oldest part of the city. An example of the old blending in with the new is the gothic Oude Kerk church on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, the oldest in Amsterdam, which is now surrounded by window prostitution. The Red Light District is certainly worth a visit for the brave and adventurous.

More infomation about Amsterdam: http://wikitravel.org/en/Amsterdam

From New York Times

Where to Stay in Paris

Pack your compass and sextant. As if to spurn the burgeoning crop of luxury palaces and slick boutique hotels crowding the Champs-Élysées area, a new wave of hip, independent-minded high-concept hotels is homesteading Paris’s more remote, less visited neighborhoods. Simply trying to find them is half the fun.

Owned partly by the proprietors of the nightclub Le Baron, the Hotel Amour hides in an untouristed, undistinguished lane near Pigalle, Paris’s red-light district. Like Le Baron, the place has become a darling of the international fashion and rock ‘n’ roll set.

Farther afield is the 41-room Kube, a high-tech boutique hotel in an area known mainly for cheap immigrant restaurants. But other than the boxy retro-futurist furnishings, there’s nothing square about the Kube, which draws stylish media and design types to its sub-zero Ice Bar (the cover charge is good for a half hour and includes a winter parka and gloves and unlimited vodka).

You’ll swear you’re in early 20th-century Vienna when you wake up at the Little Palace. After a complete renovation, the hotel has become a shrine to the painter Gustav Klimt; copies of his glittering, mystical works adorn the bar, restaurant and 53 rooms.

Where to Eat in Paris

Sure, Paris abounds with sublime dining experiences from superchefs like Alain Ducasse and Joël Robuchon. Yes, you can also gorge yourself on popular (and populist) bistro classics like duck confit and steak au poivre. But more and more, ethnic cuisines and foreign flavors are edging a place at the table. From Middle East to Far East, ambitious upstarts are crowding in with the French gastronomic establishment.

Tucked near the former stock exchange, the high-end Lebanese restaurant Liza, opened in April 2005, is a worthy place to unload some euros. Within the cool white and turquoise space, servers deliver beautifully presented mezze dishes (the lamb tartare and the pomegranate-seed-topped purée of aubergine are standouts) and robust main courses like lamb confit and salty-sweet grilled meatballs.

Jacques Cousteau goes to Asia at Ozu, a tony Japanese restaurant inside the new CinéAqua aquarium. Flanked by a huge fish tank, the blond wood dining room fills with Marc Jacobs-clad couples and Japanese globe-trotters who dine on thick-cut blocks of sashimi, beignet of monkfish with ginger, and cheesecake flavored with shiso (Japanese balsamic).

After years as a restaurateur at L’Orangerie in Los Angeles — where numerous celebrities engaged his services for private events — the chef Gilles Epié returned to France and opened Citrus Étoile. Moving from light and fresh novelties (salmon marinated “herring style”) to decadent confections (foie gras-stuffed beignets topped in a syrupy-sweet port-wine reduction) to classic French staples (rabbit with mustard sauce), Mr. Epié is a true culinary contortionist.

What to Do in Paris

“Ça fait longtemps!” is what French friends say to each other when they meet up for the first time in years. With the recent reopening of two major Parisian museums after long renovations — and the debut of a third after years of expectations — the phrase could practically be Paris’s motto these days. But the wait has been well worth it.

After a five-year expansion project, the Beaux Arts-style Petit Palais reopened its doors in 2005. Like a miniature Louvre (without the Louvre’s crowds), the museum houses a diverse collection, spanning ancient Grecian urns, medieval panel paintings, Rembrandt’s “Self-Portrait in Oriental Attire,” Louis XV-era furniture, French Impressionism, the symbolist works of Odilon Redon and Art Nouveau ceramics.

The world’s most famous water lilies — the ones painted by Monet — have a refurbished home at the Musée de l’Orangerie. Reopened in May 2006 after six years of renovations, the space also holds an eye-popping collection of paintings from Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Cézanne, Renoir, André Derain and others.

Chia Pet or a museum? With its exterior wall that sprouts green plants, the new Musée du Quai Branly is easily the city’s wildest architectural concoction since the Centre Pompidou. Inside the strange jumble of angular and colorful buildings — designed by the boldface architect Jean Nouvel — are airy galleries of tribal masks, totemic carvings and other ethnographic works from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania.

When to Go to Paris

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Hotels, especially first class and deluxe, are easy to come by in July and August. Budget hotels, on the other hand, are likely to be full during these months of student invasion. You should also try to avoid late September and the first 2 weeks in October, when the annual auto show attracts thousands of enthusiasts.

Balmy weather in Paris has prompted more popular songs and love ballads than weather conditions in any other city. But the weather here is actually quite fickle. Rain is more common than snow throughout the winter, prompting longtime residents to complain about the occasional bone-chilling dampness.

In recent years, Paris has had about 15 snow days a year, and there are only a few oppressively hot days (over 86°F, or 30°C) in summer. What will most likely chill a Parisian heart, however, are the winds that sweep along the city’s boulevards, channeled by bordering buildings. Other than these occasional winds and rain (which add an undeniable drama to many of the city’s panoramas), Paris has some of the most pleasant weather of any capital in Europe, with an average temperature of 53°F (12°C).

Holidays in France are known as jours fériés. Shops and banks are closed, as well as many (but not all) restaurants and museums. For a list of major holidays, see “Fast Facts”.