Amsterdam - Mijn liefde!

May - Month of my birthday, which means: trip to Amsterdam! After my first visit to this fabulous city a couple of years ago, it became a habit for me to come back and spend my birthday here.

I know, Amsterdam stands for the most of you for red light district, coffeeshops and getting stoned - it's so much more than that!

First of all, when I step out of the train that takes me in town from the airport, I calm down. I don't know why, but since the very first time I placed foot in this city I felt immediately inhebriated and in love. But yeah, right, I'm here to report about my weekend.

I've been in plenty of hotelrooms and even in two houseboats during my last 20 (?) stays here, so this time i decided to book a local appartment also because my stay was, unfortunately, very short. My flat, booked over Airbnb, was a few steps away from Leidseplein, the centre of the happening. I chose this spot to be close to public transportation in case I needed it, but you can reach everything easily by foot if you're not too lazy and the weather is good. I would absolutely reccomend it because you'll get the chance to walk over bridges, discover little streets and notice what happens around you.

Amsterdam Oud West, view from Apartment

For my first evening, I reserved a table at Café de Jaren. A friend showed me this place a couple of years ago, and I love to come back every time. The view over the crossing canals, especially in the evening with the bridges lighting up, is extremely charming.

View from Cafe de Jaren

Also, being in Amsterdam means for me brunchtime! There are plenty of places to go for brunch, I try a different one every year, and this time I felt like I won the lottery! I heard over Instagram, called Staring at Jacob. The name of this lovely restaurant is the fusion between the streets Jacob van Lennepkade and Staringstraat. Isn't it geniality? If you don't mind to take a little walk south of the city, go and have your weekend brunch there. The staff is extremely friendly and the interior is cute as the most places you have in town.

Photo: Courtesy of Staring at Jacob

Photo: Courtesy of Staring at Jacob

If I had more time I would have added to my saturday tour a new tattoo. Salon Serpent in Amsterdam does walk ins on Saturdays, and since I love oldschool tattoos, it's the perfect address for me! I was there in December 2012 with my brother, again in May 2013 and got my tattoos by the very talented Guen Douglas twice. Here her work on my legs:

I didn't have the time for tattooing because I was about to attend an open air event in the afternoon. Everybody knows that I am an electronic music lover, so I got tickets for the Park am See event organized and promoted by Deephouse Amsterdam (online magazine and agenda for electronic music in the Netherlands), Chasing the Hihat and Watergate Berlin. I am also a big fan of Amsterdam because of all the events happening outside from May on all over the summer: you have loads of festivals and rooftop parties. It would basically be paradise for me!
Park am See was held at the Oeverlanden, by a lake just south from the city. There were three different stages with deejays playing, activities everywhere and places to lie in the sun until sunset. I was very impressed by Digitaria's performance, since they had a live singer - it was totally magical! The decoration all over the venue was amazingly well done and the people, like always, laid back and having a dance.

I am a Deephouse Amsterdam fan since a while and I really wanna make a big compliment to them: these guys seem to work hard, and most important, they show that they love what they do! It's definetly one of the event organsation I'd love to work with the most.

The openair party was during the day from 12pm to 12am. After that, came the "after" (which I couldn't experience because of my early morning flight *sob*): the Chicago Social Club was the official venue to party through the rest of the night and make this weekend unforgettable for sure!

Flyer: Courtesy of Resident Advisor

Watergate Stage (actually IN the water!)

Park am See food court

My friend Sandra and I with funny guy ;)

To get an idea, here the video about the last Park am See:

Some other practical infos:

- Eating: another good dinner spot is Café de Klos, located right behind Leidseplein. If you like steaks and ribs, this is the place for you! I rarely had a plate of ribs like this in Europe. The staff is fun and caring, we had a few interesting conversations with them.

Photo: Courtesy of Tripadvisor

- Where to stay: Harm's apartment, booked through Airbnb, was perfectly located and sleeps two guests. For the morning coffee please have your "koffie verkeerd" in the cafes just downstairs the apartment. They have the cutest patios to sit outside and watch the city getting ready for the day.

- Getting around: weather permitting, rent a bike! It's the best way to discover the city. Just step by at MacBike and get yours for how many days you want. Otherwise, public transportation like buses and trams are good.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria - the urban side of an island

Every year around springtime, me and one of my best buddies Paulo look for a place to escape. First, from winter, or what is left from it, and second, to recover from our long winter nightwork, that takes a lot of energy away.

This year we decided to have a look on one of the most visited tourist spots in western europe, Gran Canaria. Every person that knows me a bit can imagine that I'm not surely making the classical tourist vacation, like staying one week in the same hotel and hang around tasting its all inclusive meal plan. (not that I have anything against it - but I can do it for sure when I'm 50 and have no fantasy left)

So, decided that it will be the Spanish island, we opted for Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, aka the "big city". I wanted to live as local as possible and as far away as I could from Playa del Inglés, famous vacation spot for every all inclusive tourist. I found an apartment on Airbnb right on the beach of Las Canteras, and I mean, RIGHT on the beach! Just arrived we were welcomed by our supersweet host Marleny, who showed us our apartment: a simple one bedroom studio with a terrace. What a view! We had a big terrace overlooking the whole playa with tanning chair, table and chairs for 4 people. I think I spent the first 10 minutes on it staring at the beautiful Atlantic Ocean and just hearing what the waves had to say.

Our AirBnb Apartment: Courtesy of my Friend Paulo

The quarter of Las Canteras reminded me a lot of a smaller version of Venice Beach in California. You'll see a lot of joggers and sporty people using the common areas right on the beach to train their bodies. Addicionally, there's street art everywhere!

Photo: Courtesy of my Friend Paulo

Photo: Courtesy of my Friend Paulo

Photo: Courtesy of my Friend Paulo

Photo: Courtesy of my Friend Paulo

Photo: Courtesy of my Friend Paulo

I am a big fan of Spain since I've visited it the first time back in 2008. So tapas are a must for me everyday I spend there. Tapas are a selection of lots of regional (and non) little bites, that you can combine together so that you'll get a whole meal. I absolutely like to share a variety of tapas with my co-traveller accompained by one or two good glasses of red wine. C'mon, doesen't it sound like paradise on earth?

Wandering around the district I've spotted a few nice places, where you can enjoy exactly this type of meal at almost every time of the day. (see "Practical infos" below). Please, please, please: If you order tapas order the local "Mojo": oven baked potatoes with a variety of 2 or 3 sauces - delicious!
Las Palmas City has to offer way more than just the beach and a few graffitis. Taking a walk to the old town, there's a lot to see, especially if it comes to colonial buildings, they give to the city a kind of "down in the past" and untouched athmosphere.

Photo: Courtesy of my Friend Paulo

Photo: Courtesy of my Friend Paulo

Since I knew that we would have been staying there for one full week, I decided to explore the surrounding islands. I booked a one day ferry trip to Tenerife, the closest island to Gran Canaria (approx. 2.5 hours ferry ride). Tenerife is sweet: very similar to Gran Canaria, but with a few unique touches. The first thing I've noticed for example, was the huge flower wall right on the side of the harbour. Very colorful and already with a touch of summer, surrounding all the green trees and the park at the harbour itself.

Flowerwall, Tenerife Harbour

Another Plus that Tenerife has is the big Auditorio designed by star architect Santiago Calatrava, who also designed our little train station Stadelhofen here in Switzerland. Very reccomandable for a quick bite is also its café. This modern building is one of the most impressive things I've seen during my trip there. Surrounded only by salty water and a lot of decorated stones with handmade portraits of famous singers and bands.

Auditorio de Tenerife
Photo: Courtesy of my Friend Paulo

Photo: Courtesy of my Friend Paulo

Another must thing to do in Tenerife is a visit to the local beach. A 15 minutes bus ride away from the city centre you'll find the little town of Sant'Andres, which has the closest beach in the surroundings. Mostly visited by locals, it's a little peaceful paradise with fisher boats and one cute cuban bar (a mojito there is a must!). Spending there the remaining afternoon was so relaxing, I almost didn't want to leave!

Sant'Andrés
Photo: Courtesy of my Friend Paulo

Las Teresitas Beach, Sant'Andrés

Pracitcal infos:

- Where to sleep: Marleny's apartment on Airbnb offers the perfect accomodation for 2 people. Self catering isn't a problem since the flat has its own little kitchen. We spent a few evenings eating our own dinner on the seaside terrace.

- How to get around: Gran Canaria hasn't really a railway system. Instead, they connect the most part of the island with buses. But please don't ask on the street about buses: the locals call them Guaguas. Tickets are avaliable on the bus for 1.20 Euros per ride.For emergency or practical reasons, taxis are very reasonable priced.

- Ferries: Naviera Armas offers all ferry itinerarys and fares. Funny thing: on every ride you'll find an entertainement program (I know ferries from Italy, but they only ride you from A to B :D). On one way we had local folk music and all people going crazy (it was 9 AM!), on the other way around we experienced a bingo night.

- Where to eat: Las Canteras offers a few good tapas restaurants like Restaurante Quebeque and especially for dinner the Taperia Allende: their porra antequerana (an andaluzian soup) is simply amazing!

- Shopping: There is a big shopping centre right near the beach of Las Canteras featuring all the big Spanish brands like Zara, Pull&Bear, Bershka and Stradivarius. A big Primark store is also provided.

- Weather: The Canary Islands have a warm climate all over the year. However, it can get quite fresh during the evenings because of the ocean breeze: so take a light scarf and a sweater with you.

Cuban Mojito Bar, Sant'Andrés

Coachella 2012

Being a festival fanatic took me to book a trip oversea. Me and my friend Maria were thinking about where to go for our spring vacation of almost 3 weeks, and decided to go and see what the Coachella Festival in California is all about.

Line up: Courtesy of Coachella

Since we had a long trip in front of us, we asked ourselves which combination of places would be the best fit to make this time unforgettable. The result was the following: some big city vibe in L.A., Coachella as the musical centre and a few relaxing days on our way back in Key West, Florida.

It wasn't the first time for us visiting Los Angeles and Key West. So we made Hollywood our base first, just to enjoy a bit of shopping and having a couple of good bites in the epicentre of LA's tourism. After a few days we spent the last nights in the city of angels in Venice Beach. Maria and I are pretty laid back and not big glamour chaser, so Venice Beach was perfect for us: laid back district, bohemian feeling and seabreeze.
We booked our room at the Erwin Hotel, located directly near the boardwalk. Despite the perfect location and the amazing rooms, this modern gem has a fantastic rooftop terrace where to hang out in the evening and enjoy the best view over Venice. Another good tip is to rent a bike. There's no nicer thing to do on a sunny day than cycle all the way down to the Santa Monica Pier and have some great lunch.

Photo: Courtesy of Tripadvisor

Shrimps at Bubba Gump, Santa Monica Pier

Santa Monica Pier

Being in Los Angeles was a great start, we could recover from jetlag and get in the festival mood. I had no idea what to expect and how the dimentions would be. Well, I knew for sure that the venue would be like 20 times bigger than one single festival here in Switzerland. I mean, with a huge line up like that you can get some peace of mind for the whole year since you'll probably seen all the most important and hyped headliner in one event, unless you go to one venue that's totally different, musically speaking.
We took a three hour bus ride from LA to Indio, where Coachella takes place. If I'd be there again one day, I would rearrange some things like where to stay or by renting a car. Indio is smaller than LA, but still big enough, so forget walking distance and stuff like that (I really thought I might could walk. Yeah, Europeans walk a lot sometimes). Our hotel was too far away from the venue. Fortunately we met a girl that drove us to Coachella and back to the hotel for approx. 30 bucks a day. I guess it was the best solution since making the same thing with a cab would have been pretty tragic!

Room View at Fantasy Springs Resort

Coachella was held for the first time on two weekends in a row this year. We were there to attend weekend one. First of all, I was shocked about how big the Empire Polo fields are! Once you get there, you'll walk, and a lot, trust me! Getting in takes all the standard security procedures, so no trying to smuggle some drugs in or trying to hide it somewhere (I don't do drugs, but I saw them even controlling my boots and my cigarette pack).

The festival has a great vibe and lots of extras. You'll able to find, for example, some phone charging stations and free drinking water dispensers, since you basically are in the desert. The field is decorated amazingly and there are different stages based on the music direction. 2012 is the year where dubstep became commercial I guess. As an electronic music lover I used to spend some more time around the DJ stage and I had to notice that :) One of the best sets was in my opinion the one of Martin Solveig.

The Rock and Roll soul in my tiny little body loved the Vaccines' performance. They really are young and raw rockers. Their music wants to get you a beer, jump around and make out. Classic.
Another great act was Noel Gallagher with his band High Flying Birds. Ex Oasis member mixed his show with new songs combined with some Oasis tracks. I liked it, I almost got nostalgic :)
Besides these two, the Black Keys did a great job and Radiohead was magic.

Of course urban music lovers get their stars too: this year was the turn of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, just to mention some names.

Coachella has a big food court, so you won't spend a lot of time waiting for your food. And it's incredibly clean for it's dimentions. Maybe because you'll just allowed to drink your beer or wine in the separate gardens, only minus of the whole weekend I suppose. I'm not really used to rules like that as an European, so I like to stand by the stage with my drink and sing along the band's songs. I survived, don't worry!

The best thing about my stay at the Fantasy Spring Resort, big desert hotel, was the thought to have a big breakfast the morning after every festival day. I'm addicted to egg benedict, hard to find here in my continent, so I ate them almost every day! They also have a casino - big mistake for me going down there.

Sad but true, three days of desert loving flew like crazy and there we were again, standing next to the bus to get back to Los Angeles and take our flight to Florida.

Key West is one of my personal little paradises. I love this little island, with it's small coloroued houses and turquoise sea. Once you're there, you'll immediately feel a carribbean vibe around you. Fair enough, the island is located 90 km away from Cuba and is the southernmost point in the States.
After some packed days on a big festival like Coachella and the whole travelling around, taking it easy on Key West wasn't hard. We rented some bikes to get around and enjoyed mostly a good swim, some little breakfast in a cute coffeehouse or a peaceful dinner in town in the evenings.

Practical Infos - Los Angeles

- Where to stay: for Hollywood, the Celebrity Hotel. Big beds, good location right behind the Hollywood & Highlander Centre and fair priced. Venice Beach as stated.

- Where to eat: one of the sweetest places I've been out for dinner in LA was the Barlo Kitchen. Located just in the same building as the Erwin Hotel, this little pearl of a restaurant has lots of attention for the detail and feels very intimate. Staff is amazing!

- Getting around: we were more than happy with our few bus rides and the cabs. If you wanna move faster you should rent a car in LA. For bike rentals I was super satisfied with the Venice Boardwalk Bike Rental.

Coachella

- Tickets: Subscribe the Coachella Newsletter! Tickets go on sale for the first time one year in advance special priced, all other around 3 months before the festival. I love to risk sometimes so I booked mine one year in advance with no line up out yet. Mine was a VIP ticket, with special allowance to a separate area, different drinks and food (General Admisson gets only beer as an alcoholic beverage) and normal toilets. Price was around 150 Dollars more expensive than the General Admission Ticket. It was totally worth it, I loved my wine! :)

Coachella Goodies

- Where to stay: be early with this! Look for hotels near the Empire Polo Fields or get an apartment or a room on Airbnb in that area.

- How to get there: You can fly over LAX to Palm Springs or take a bus ride with Greyhound directly to Indio.

- Other: wear sunscreen and a hat. Being in the desert during the day can get more than hot, you shouldn't melt on the venue, you should be able to enjoy!

Key West

- Where to stay: The Ibis Bay Resort right out of town offers big rooms and provides bikes for free. They have a very good restaurant on the water called the Stoned Crab. Seafood and Key Lime Pie are just yum!

- Where to eat: Despite the Stoned Crab, Key West has a lot of restaurants to offer. Try the Hard Rock Cafe: it's totally different than the classical ones, in this cute wooden house.

Photo: Courtesy of Tripadvisor

 - Other: Key West is a gay friendly island. You can totally feel the tolerance in this place, where everybody can be however he likes, without being judged. We went to see the famous drag queen show at the 801 Bourbon Bar. It was so welcoming and entertaining that we went twice! :)
Also interesting for a visit is the Southernmost Point and Ernest Hemingway's house.