A Day in Amsterdam

I leave for Amsterdam on Tuesday evening, for what promises to be a really interesting conference at the IViR, the Institute for Information Law of the University of Amsterdam, this time in co-production with Tilberg University. (The joint venture between Amsterdam and Tilburg has produced a genuine Internet studies powerhouse.) The IViR could be my favorite place to go for conferences, as I always meet interesting people, and it has a lovely setting. My job is to comment on a great paper by Ronald Leenes and Bert-Japp Koops of Tilberg.

Even though I booked the tickets a while ago, the transatlantic airfares were unusually high. It turned out that I could lower the price from insane to painful by returning a day late, so in addition to my arrival day spent in a jet-lagged haze, I'm also going to have Saturday, July 3 (by which time I'll be over jet lag), free to actually tourist around Amsterdam, one of my favorite cities. As best I can recall, this is the first time in at least a decade, maybe more, that I have an entire extra day just to tourist as part of a conference trip unless I was traveling with the family. Usually when I'm on my own I book myself for fairly tight schedules, even for the transatlantic events, in order to minimize the time away from home. If all goes well, I'll be home in time for the July 4 fireworks, assuming I can stay up that late.

I spent a very happy week in Amsterdam while a grad student, so I have a pretty good idea of which museums I'd like to revisit, and just how much fun it is to walk around Amsterdam in the sunshine. But if anyone has advice on where to eat, or especially where to find WiFi hotspots I would be most grateful. Last time I went to Amsterdam I took a long list of alleged hotspots with me that I'd collated from several internet sites, and only one of them actually worked, and that was in a nice cafe but somewhat far from my hotel. And yes, it's the same infuriating hotel they booked me into last time.

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6 Responses to A Day in Amsterdam

  1. If you have time, I strongly recommend checking out Boom Chicago – an American improve comedy troupe based in Amsterdam. I saw them the last time I was Amsterdam and they were hilarious.

  2. Melanie says:

    Michael,

    Check out the Javanese restaurants.

  3. This purports to be a comprehensive list for A-dam

    http://tinyurl.com/yt2da

  4. Rik Lambers says:

    Looking out to hear your comments at the IViR conference this week.
    Actually, there is a WiFi hotspot in cafe De Waag at the Nieuwmarkt, the oldest part of the city center. A great location and close to your infuriating hotel. (http://www.waag.org/wireless/index_en.html).
    Otherwise there always is a spot at the IViR.

  5. When I was in Amsterdam, my brother-in-law took me to an Indonesian restaurant, I believe called Long Pura–it was fantastic, one of the most memorable meals I’ve had in my life.

  6. Bicyclemark says:

    My street, Eerste Helmerstraat seems to have become one giant Wi-Fi hotspot. I haven’t paid for net in months. Café De Balie at Liedseplein is also a hotspot. Most UvA buildings are as well. I’m starting to wonder if I shouldn’t go check out the conference, I work for the university!

    Go see the world press photo exhibit.

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