Pestana Amsterdam Riverside – Very Trendy
Amsterdam is hip by nature, and the “De Pijp” neighborhood, south of the capital’s centre, just might be the trendiest part of town. A striking historic building that once housed the city archives is now a stylish new hotel on Amsteldijk. It is mainly a residential area, so you’ll feel like a local amid a vibrant and cosmopolitan hub.
QO Amsterdam Hotel Opens
QO Amsterdam has opened its doors in the dynamic Amstelkwartier, the “new city district” in the Dutch capital. QO, an IHG® hotel, seamlessly weaves luxury with holistic wellness and sustainability. Every aspect of the hotel is designed to reduce environmental impact and to create the best possible guest experience, from the rooftop greenhouse to the smart façade and energy-saving features in its construction.
Rembrandt Year 2019
The year 2019 marks the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt van Rijn’s death. Special exhibitions and presentations will be held throughout the year, in venues that include the Rijksmuseum, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, and the Mauritshuis. Other museums and locations throughout the Netherlands and surrounding countries will also give predominance to the Dutch Golden Age of Rembrandt and his contemporaries.
70th Anniversary of the Keukenhof
Flower Power is Keukenhof’s 2019 theme. At this beautiful park, flowers connect people from across the globe who come together to enjoy the tulips and their fragrance and colors. The Netherlands is famous for its bulb fields and the many flowers cultivated there. Bright colors, hippies, peace and music. Flower Power has that early 1970s vibe, thus a great theme for celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Keukenhof.
Did You Know?
Sacharias Jansen and the Microscope
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek is often mentioned as the inventor of the microscope, with which he also discovered bacteria. However, it is widely believed that Sacharias Jansen, a glasses grinder from Middelburg, made a first version of the microscope almost a century earlier. Antoni improved it and the current microscope is still based on the design of this world-famous microbiologist.
KLM – The World’s Oldest Airline
The Royal Dutch Airlines, legally known as Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij or KLM, is the national airline of the Netherlands. KLM was established in 1919 making it the world’s oldest operating airline. It still operates under its original name scheduling passengers and cargo services to about 130 destinations. The headquarters of KLM is at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. As of 2013, the airline had 32,505 employees. Jerry Shaw piloted the first KLM flight on May 17th, 1920, flying from the Croydon Airport in London to Amsterdam.
1,170 Windmills
There are approximately 1,170 windmills in the Netherlands, with many still working. The most famous windmill location and the one with the largest number of them is Kinderdijk. The Zaanse Schans and Alblasserwaard also have several windmills, as does the area between Alphen aan den Rijn and Leiden, with nine windmills in Leiden alone. The Schiedam windmills are among the highest in the world.
Dollar comes from the Dutch Daalder
By the 17th century, Holland had become a world trade power with its own version of the thaler silver coin imprinted with a lion. They called it the “Leeuwendaalder”, changing thaler into Daalder. Between 1614 and 1674 the Dutch colonized the island of Manhattan and founded the town of New Amsterdam (now New York). The “Leeuwendaalder” soon became the most popular trading currency on the island and was shortened to Daaler – thus the American Dollar was born!