Webwinkel-ing in Amsterdam

Just back from a fun trip to Amsterdam and Utrecht to speak at a conference with Joris Beckers of Fred Hopper – info on my ‘business’ site here. It was a really fun trip and Joris is a great host (sadly, I had consumed too many beers to snap photos of the 5-piece female close-harmony barbershop blues quintet that spontaneously – nay, randomly – coalesced and performed at a bar in Rembrandt Square…).

I discovered that “webwinkel” is eCommerce: how cool is that?

So – to impressions:

1) City Airport is just fab, especially now that a) the DLR goes all the way there and b) I’ve worked out how to use my Oyster card. Result.
2) Turbo-prop planes are rather small and are not for nervous flyers who don’t want to feel every cloud bump and the effort of climbing… I think I’ll find jet routes in future!
3) There are lots of “Hotel Amsterdams” in Amsterdam. Yes, I know that seems obvious now, but after being dropped in the wrong one, directed to another wrong one, checking out a very wrong one on my travels I finally found the rather lovely “Eden” hotel Amsterdam. Phew. Very modern, good service and one of the best hotel beds ever.
4) Dutch trains are fab. Take care though to check whether you’re getting on an intercity (fast), sprinter (not fast at all) or the other one (stops everywhere and has a cuppa). Nearly made a mightily embarrassing mistake…
5) Schipol airport has nothing to do with transport – it’s a typographer’s art installation. The signs, ah the signage!
6) I think there’s an internet boom on. The conference had some stunning stands, my two favourites being the small lake, 4 industrial wind machines and remote controlled yacht racing (god only knows what they actually sold) and the 15m-high “hands of the clock” cycle a loop-the-loop machine. Nuts. Sadly the crapcam decided to die and erase the photos. If not I could also have shown the football teams, the traditional waffle chef in a kitchen, the cars… It was 1999 all over again!

Went for an early morning wander with the XPan and so will post the panoramas as soon as I get a mo to do some scanning.