Amsterdam: The Grand to undergo renovation

The Grand Amsterdam
Luxury 5 star hotel The Grand

Luxury 5 star Hotel The Grand Amsterdam, operating under the Sofitel Demeure label of Accor, will undergo a Euro 25 mio renovation starting in November, 2007 and probably lasting 1,5 year.

The 131 rooms and 35 suites Hotel will get a whole new concept. Also the cooperation with Chef Albert Roux (72) will be terminated at the end of 2007.

Source:Zibbn.nl.

The Trippist Blog

Trippist

As a native Dutchman I am very proud of my small, but very peculiar country. Therefor one of my aims with this Blog is to make sure a lot of information about The Netherlands is available in the English language. So I am glad to present to you the The Trippist Blog [discontinued in the meantime]

Trippist was a sort of community Blog written by:

  • Svintha
    Blond, 100% Dutch girl born in the northern part of Holland, speaking with a heavy “farmers” accent (when she feels like it). She spends her weekdays at the office of the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions in New York as Project Manager. Svintha traveled extensively, lived and worked on several continents
  • Dragqueen
    Don’t know “her” name, but she must’ve been something along the lines of Cotton Candy, has nothing to do with Trippist, but Sebastian thought she was hot!
  • Arthur
    The youngest of the crew, also working for the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions, has just left student life behind a mere 3 months ago! Lived in Amsterdam before coming to New York and is now bumming around in Midtown somewhere.
  • Sebastian
    Not blond (nor a girl) and far from being “typical Dutch,” Sebastian is the Internet Manager at the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions in New York. Aside from his duties at work, he writes “interesting” postings for MarketingFacts.nl.
  • Neil Carlson
    Originally from Toronto, Neil Carlson is living out his dream in Amsterdam and in Vancouver, Canada. He last studied at the University of British Columbia. His passion for travel started early with long stints in Yemen, Israel and Indonesia as a child, and to date he’s visited more than 40 countries-oddly none of them in Central or South America. When he’s not chained to his computer you can find him in the city attending cultural events, exploring the culinary scene, and browsing galleries and bookstores, or in the outdoors where he camps, hikes, kayaks, sails and snowboards. His diverse interests include architecture and design, cooking and dining, fine arts, the social histories of Europe and Africa, environmentally sustainable tourism, listening to jazz, and exploring Southern Africa.
  • Janelle Ward
    An enthusiastic Amsterdam dweller from Minnesota obsessed with learning and observation. Yet…my Dutch is still sadly mediocre (on a good day). Biker extraordinaire, Caprese lover, pigeon hater, canal gazer. Oh yeah: I’m a graduate student, which is the reason I’m officially here
  • Bess Van Asselt
    I am an international student from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana studying at the University of Amsterdam for Fall semester 2006
  • Michael Glennon
    I like music with squeaks and snarls; sometimes I imagine 24 is the biggest number. Student of ‘social theory and public affairs’, which right now means reading all the time and preparing to talk about reading. Sociology = I’ll be watching you…
  • Duck & Birdie
    From the boardroom to the darkroom, from the jungle to the supermarket aisle, Duck & Birdie are masters at combining the witty and intelligent with the silly and crude. Started as a student prank, they now enjoy great popularity in the Netherlands. Both endearing and repulsive, Duck & Birdie are remarkably versatile in their consistent effort to redefine the boundaries of good taste.
    In the Netherlands, their home country, Duck & Birdie are known as Fokke & Sukke. From the moment Fokke & Sukke were born, in 1993, their names have caused a multitude of giggles among our English-speaking friends, most of whom won’t believe that the resemblance with certain English verbs is simply a coincidence. Duck & Birdie began their rise to stardom in 1994 in a renowned Amsterdam student magazine.
  • Bicyclemark
    Dispatches from a Portuguese-American, radical, activist-blogger, podjournalist, vlogger, and citizen reporter; living in Amsterdam.

By their youth, background and interests, it promises and is already a highly interesting Blog that started somewhere in summer 2006. Its main focus is of course Amsterdam, but it also hints and discusses the typical Dutch things and habits. Enjoy!

Added 22nd December: They even have their own DJ Lucky Charms Ipod mix! (three tracks for the moment)

Update

They belong to the catagory Dead Travel Blog Society as of January, 2012. I found their final post in the Wayback Machine by Bicyclemark:

We must go, but the Trippist Resource Lives On
January 2, 2012

Well there will be no parade or ceremony of any kind. No flashy banner across the top of your screen and no special offer in honor of our last posts here on Trippist. A place for stories, recommendations, and observations about this land that none of us were born in but we each know and love in a different way. For five great years we have been here with you sharing and musing about a wide range of things going on in a country with a range of tastes as diverse as anyone could imagine. Its easy to travel to the Netherlands, but its an exciting challenge to pick and choose out of everything that which inspires and moves you.

2012 has begun and so too have millions of travel plans that might possibly land someone back on this site, perusing a post about a café or festival that is just as good- if not better- as the day we recommended it. For that reason, this site will live on as a resource, and we’re happy to have been and continue to be of service.

I’d like to extend a very special thank you to my fellow trippists Janelle and Alison, and everyone who wrote for the blog over the years, it was a pleasure.

Best of luck in your travels and life adventures this year and beyond. Thanks for joining us here and until next we meet somewhere in the online world, as they say in the Netherlands, -tot ziens.

On a later date it seems it disappeared entirely.

Dutch Design (2): The College Hotel

Amsterdam College Hotel Front
The Amsterdam College Hotel Front

The College Hotel is being created by a local hospitality school in the Amsterdam Musea Area. It is expected to open officially on December 22, 2004. Not only a hotel in an old school, but also a hotel that will serve for the students of the hospitality school as practice on the job. It will be operated by the Spanish Stein Hotels Group.

Blakes Becomes Dylan

Dylan Amsterdam front
Blakes in Amsterdam, created by Anouschka Hempel, changes its name into Dylan. In 2003 it was taken over by the Spanish Stein Hotels Group.

Added in sept 2006:
I now see the name of Lady Weinberg should read as Anouska Hempel rather than Anoushka or Anouschka, and here is the link to Anouska Hempel Design.

Lloyd Hotel, Amsterdam opens August 29, 2004

Lloyd Hotel, Amsterdam
Lloyd Hotel launched its website. Curious what will happen. A hotel with rooms rating from 1 star to 5 stars under the Dutch Hotel Classification System. It is located in a former passengers terminal, has two restaurants and will serve as a “Cultural Embassy”. The initiators have a cultural, rather than a hotel background.

Last edited by GJE on May 19, 2012 at 12:39 pm