Things to do in Amsterdam

People ask me a lot what there is to do in places I've visited or lived. I'm happy to oblige, but generally I lose the lists and have to do them again. To avoid a replay, I'm posting them here for future reference. To start with, things to do in Amsterdam.

There's so much to do in this city that I hardly know where to start. Its a crazy place and I generally to just wander around people watching and see what I get up to. Its free and enteraining. There are also quite a few nice parks:

• Vondelpark: the grand daddy of parks. I've seen it referred to as Amsterdam's answer to central park. While it's not as vast or sprawling, it certainly adds a presence to the city. Full of little ponds, majestic weeping willows and borders the fantastic consulate & embassy row.
  
• There's a place in Vondelpark called the Blue House that has a free DJ spinning tunes every Sunday (at least, it did when I lived there). If it's still there, its a great place to hang, drink a beer or coffee, read or write, etc.

Obviously, coffeeshops are on everyone's mind when they head into that city. It's one of the things that make it what it is. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Dampkring: looks like a hobbit hole
• The Rokerij: several of these in the city. Always cool
• Grey Area: tiny and fun. Owned by an cool American dude
• Amnesia: chilled little place
• Greenhouse: A couple of these, full of pics of celebrities. The best on is slightly out of the center
• Siberie: Chilled and full of locals playing chess.
  
• Avoid the Grasshopper. It looks cool from the outside, but is much more expensive than the rest.
  

A good site to see what's going on around town is Underwater Amsterdam. I used to check here for parties, shows and such.http://www.underwateramsterdam.com/

If you're up for doing the museum thing:

• Rijksmuseum is the big, splashy one. The downside is that much of it is still closed for refurbishment.
  
• The van Gogh museum blew me away. This place made me understand why people rave about his art. It looks great on reprints, but its unbelievable in person.
  
• Can't vouch for the sex shows or sex museum since, despite best intentions, we never made it. :)

A few of my favorite places to eat:

• Thai Snackbar Bird : a little hole in the wall on Zeedijk. Great food, decent prices
• Maoz: falafel stands throughout the city. Great stony food. Amazing with hummus
• Delores: tiny little house right off Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, easy to miss. Good grub, cool people
• Bolhoed: fantastic vegetarian place on Prinsengracht
  

If you're up for an adventure, the neighborhood I used to live in is called the Biljmer. It's full of Africans and South Americans, which makes it different from much of the city and country. It's worth a visit, just to wander.