{"id":17928,"date":"2013-03-25T01:26:09","date_gmt":"2013-03-24T23:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/?p=17928"},"modified":"2013-03-25T01:27:29","modified_gmt":"2013-03-24T23:27:29","slug":"amsterdam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2013\/03\/25\/amsterdam\/","title":{"rendered":"Amsterdam, the second take"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As you probably already realized, I’ve spent most of this week in Amsterdam, Netherlands. \u00a0And as some of you already know, that was my ever second trip to that European city. \u00a0My first time was back in April of 2008, and I’ve blogged plenty about it – have a look at the Amsterdam tag archives<\/a> of this site.<\/p>\n

\""Straight"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Both trips were just for a few days. \u00a0Both were for a professional event – a conference and a training. \u00a0Both were roughly the same time of the year – late March and early April. \u00a0Both, I’ve enjoyed a great deal. \u00a0That’s pretty much where the similarities about them end, and the differences begin.<\/p>\n

My first trip was paid by the company I was working for. \u00a0I stayed in a really awesome Movenpick Hotel. \u00a0And I spent most of my free time walking east of it. \u00a0That was enough for me to like Amsterdam city, but not enough to actually feel it.<\/p>\n

\"Snowing<\/a><\/p>\n

Well, this time, it was quite different. \u00a0I stayed in a cheap hotel, right next to all the tourist attractions, with crowds of people moving between bars, coffee shops, and food joints. \u00a0My room was smaller than most people bathrooms, and it was tricky to find in, what I understand to be, a traditional Amsterdam house. \u00a0I’ve also took the opportunity to boat around a few of the famous channels, learn a thing or two about the history of the place, and visit one of the many museums. \u00a0Also, as part of both my training seminars and after, I had the opportunity to converse with a few locals. \u00a0All that combined gave a much better feeling of Amsterdam than my last trip.<\/p>\n

\"Enjoying<\/a><\/p>\n

I have to say that I enjoyed it a lot. \u00a0I like Amsterdam even more now and I definitely want to come back. \u00a0I’ll never be able to live there, for a variety of factors, but I know now how to enjoy an occasional visit.<\/p>\n

If I had to pick three memories from this trip, they would be:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Making my way through the\u00a0labyrinth<\/strong>\u00a0of the Beursstraat Hotel, trying to find my room. \u00a0In reality it probably took about five minutes, but it triggered such a massive train of thought and association, that I’m sure it’ll be with me for a while.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Thursday snow<\/strong>. \u00a0The two days before it was very windy and cold. But on Thursday the wind calmed down and it started snowing around lunch time. \u00a0I was in the room with no windows for the most part of the day, so it was quite a surprise when I stepped outside. \u00a0Large snow flakes, calmly falling down and melting immediately on the ground. \u00a0With no wind, it wasn’t that cold no more. \u00a0So it was quite magical. \u00a0Something I haven’t seen in a long long time.<\/li>\n
  3. Atmosphere at the bar<\/strong> of the Hotel Internationaal. \u00a0It was cozy, yet energetic and fun at the same time. \u00a0I’ve met a few good people, and enjoyed an almost unhealthy amount of Guinness there. \u00a0It was so good that I spent not one, but two evenings there. \u00a0I’ve also got a new nickname, which haven’t happened to me in a long time. \u00a0They called me “Tiny”. :)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"Doing<\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n

    As you probably already realized, I’ve spent most of this week in Amsterdam, Netherlands. \u00a0And as some of you already know, that was my ever second trip to that European city. \u00a0My first time was back in April of 2008, and I’ve blogged plenty about it – have a look at the Amsterdam tag archives … Continue reading Amsterdam, the second take<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[1465,1464,479],"keyring_services":[],"class_list":["post-17928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-personal","tag-amsterdam","tag-netherlands","tag-tourism"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17906,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2013\/03\/18\/im-getting-ready-for-my-trip-to-amsterdam-i-am\/","url_meta":{"origin":17928,"position":0},"title":"I’m getting ready for my trip to Amsterdam. \u00a0I am…","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"March 18, 2013","format":"status","excerpt":"I'm getting ready for my trip to Amsterdam. \u00a0I am flying out of Cyprus tomorrow morning and if all goes well, I should be back by Friday evening. \u00a0I won't have too much time while there, as I will be attending some training sessions, but if you want to meet,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11136,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/02\/amsterdam-netherlands\/","url_meta":{"origin":17928,"position":1},"title":"Amsterdam, Netherlands","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"April 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Tomorrow morning I am leaving for The Next Web Conference, which will take place in Amsterdam, Netherlands.\u00a0 I spent a few minutes in Wikipedia, reading about both Amsterdam and Netherlands.\u00a0 Here are some interesting highlights (direct quotes from Wikipedia): The Netherlands is often called Holland. This is formally incorrect as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11141,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/08\/amsterdam-in-black-and-white\/","url_meta":{"origin":17928,"position":2},"title":"Amsterdam in black and white","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"April 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was walking the streets of Amsterdam, I caught myself many times thinking about how particularly nice the city looks in black and white.\u00a0 Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of color and brightness in there.\u00a0 But, the combination of rainy weather and straight lines of strict architecture\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Amsterdam Central","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3027\/2393705827_95fc9fec33.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11137,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/07\/back-from-amsterdam-overview\/","url_meta":{"origin":17928,"position":3},"title":"Back from Amsterdam. Overview.","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"April 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I am back from my trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands.\u00a0 It was as good as I expected and sometimes even better.\u00a0 I really enjoyed my time over there, met a quite a few interesting people, established a few useful relationships, saw some interesting technologies, photographed a beautiful city, tasted some nice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3101\/2394311498_6e7f609994.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11143,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/09\/diggnation-live-in-amsterdam\/","url_meta":{"origin":17928,"position":4},"title":"Diggnation live in Amsterdam","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"April 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"First of all, a confession.\u00a0 I was aware of the fact that there is such a show (or video podcast) - Diggnation.\u00a0 I was aware of the fact that it is somehow related to the Digg web site.\u00a0 And I think I even remember watching a couple of episodes a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Diggnation live in Amsterdam","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3177\/2393646859_6964219003.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11138,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/08\/the-city-of-amsterdam\/","url_meta":{"origin":17928,"position":5},"title":"The city of Amsterdam","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"April 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Most of the people who I told that I was going to Amsterdam for a conference responded with some combination of one or more of \"Oh, the drug capital of the world\", \"Oh, the city of red lights and legalized prostitution\", and \"Oh, this is the best place to get\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Streets of Amsterdam","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2152\/2393493299_e16b0a1ea9.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17928\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17928"},{"taxonomy":"keyring_services","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyring_services?post=17928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}