Lazy weekends in Amsterdam

Amsterdam is one of the best cities to live. Especially when it's not raining. So what to do in Amsterdam on a dry sunny weekend day in winter?

Neighbourhood Food Market

Sampling fine food in a relaxed, cozy setting.

There is almost something going on at the Westergasfabriek all the way in West. It's a good thing it's one of my favorite hang outs in the city, and not only because it's an urban brownfield redevelopment project. Last sunday Westergasfabriek hosted the Neighbourhood Food Market. Inside the Zuiveringshal West a wide variety of food stalls were put up, a DJ spinned old vinyl records, outside there were french fries, pancakes, mexican burritos were made in rolling kitchens.

The atmosphere is relaxed but it gets quite crowded after 3pm, so get there early. There is also some second hand stalls in the western half of the hall. The place is pretty kid friendly, and a photograper was taking cool pictures of families on the southern part of the building. 

Some of our favorite stalls: the pinxtos, vegetarian Indian and definitely the Vietnamese spring rolls.

http://neighbourfoodmarket.nl/

Six and Sons

Cool retro vintage concept store for men.

 Coffee and vintage furniture, clothing, decorations, fragrances... This is a gentlemen's store with a living room look and feel. Browse through the unique collection downstairs, rest and relax in the coffee bar upstairs with a coffee, sandwich, cake...

Cool stuff, good coffee, great prices!

 www.sixandsons.com/‎

Zimmerhoeve

Kids love animals, and you don't need to venture to Artis or to the countryside to find some sweet animals your toddles can pet and play with. Off De Clercqstraat, in the Kinkerbuurt there's a quaint little wooden city farm called the Zimmerhoeve. Before there was a petting zoo and playground installed there was a factory making iron cast potholes.

Free entrance, cute place, there are sheep, rabbits, chickens, pigs, goats, guinea pigs... Outside the petting zoo there is a large play ground, some ruins of the old pothole factory are visible on the playground. Warm up with a nice coffee, or a good glass of Belgian beer at nearby Cafe Louter.

 http://www.zimmerhoeve.nl/

De Parade

DE PARADE

De Parade is a theatre festival which tours each summer in the Dutch Randstad (Rotterdam, Den Haag, Utrecht, Amsterdam).

It's the kind of festival you want to go to in summer.

It looks like a fancy fair, all set up with well designed, funky looking bars, food stalls, tents and stages.

The crowd is a mix between young hipsters, art school students, older theatre loving people.

There's a laid back, festive, semi-cultural vibe, but at the seem time, it also feels pretty popular and commercial as well.

Overall, it's "gezellig"! There's cool people, older people, your parents could be here, there's very good food, good wine (by the Grape Fruit District), and there are some cool shows as well... but you need to find them. So read the online reviews about the theatre shows before you go.

There are stand up comedy, absurd comedy, drama, story telling, music shows, free shows, continuous shows.

Most shows take about 30-40 minutes, so you can see several performances in one evening.




This year we enjoyed:
- Kamagurka : Sprook (Belgian absurd comedy)
- De Speeldoos : music based on poems by a collaboration of 2 Dutch bands: Roosbeef and De Staat
- Rob & Emiel: Het boek.

What we didn't enjoy was Pennie De Jager's show called Sash!
It felt like a high school recital, a bad one.

Good food:
- Sticky fingers
- The restaurant in the tent that looks like a church. Try the pork!

Don't be afraid to bring kids along, there are some kid shows as well. And the magical feel of the festival will definately appeal to them.

The festival is easy to find on the left bank of the river Amstel, in the Martin Luther King park in the Rivierenbuurt. It's across the Waternet tower.

Admission is free before 16:00.
7,50 € per person is general admission.
Kids under 11 get in for free.