There is nothing more romantic or refreshing than a weekend getaway in Amsterdam. The city offers everything from: stunning surroundings, legendary museums, (Van Gogh and Rembrandt) stylish bars and an overall feeling of serenity and peace. Unfortunately, the rain is also no stranger in this beautiful European city- it’s actually popping by quite often. Even though a little bit of rain never killed anyone, it is always good to find some nice, alternative activities to do indoor. After you spent your entire budget on museums, tours and of course shopping- it is time to do something free for a change. Amsterdam has a lot of nice café’s which not only offer relaxed and cozy atmosphere, it’s also provide free WIFI connection! Take a look at the top 5 Amsterdam- café’s with free WIFI access and enjoy surfing with a big cup of hot chocolate!

1. Bagels & Beans
Address: Waterlooplein 2

The Bagel & Beans are famous for their delicious bagels and excellent cappuccinos. The combination of fresh food, huge coffee cups, (something which is not common is Amsterdam!) good service and central location makes this place truly addictive! Visit the address mentioned above, (please note that not all branches offer free WIFI) order one of their famous cream- cheese bagels and enjoy the rest of your rainy day!

2. Canvas
Address: Wibautstraat 150

Even though it is a bit outside the center, Canvas café’/ bar/ night club- is totally worth visiting! Located on the 7th floor, you will be able to get a total overview of the beautiful city of Amsterdam. The place gets open every day from 11 in the morning, (12 o’clock on weekends) and closing time is only at 1 o’clock at night! On the weekends the Canvas turns into a trendy night club with smashing parties and beautiful people.

3. Casa Brazuca
Address: Rijnstraat 22

The Casa Brazuca- (“Brazilian House” in Portuguese) is a nice, Brazilian café’ which is well-known for its happy- vibe and delicious meals. A quick look at the menu will prove to you that you got to the right place: fruit juices made from the most exotic fruits found in the Netherlands, fresh coffee, cassava cheese bread and many more treats. In between bite to bite try to remember the real reason why you came here: the free WIFI!

4. Night bar Amsterdam Café the bottle
Address: Oudebrugsteeg 25 –III

Just few minutes from the famous Dam- square, in one of the liveliest alleys in the city, you will be able to find the famous “Café’ the bottle”. This typical Amsterdam bar is located inside a historic building which is more than 400 years old. The atmosphere in general is laidback, multicultural and mainly fun. You will meet there all kind of friendly people who will be happy to have a drink with you or to just let you be, while you are busy surfing the net.

5. Lungoccino Espresso bar
Address: Heisteeg 5

This coffee place is extremely popular with local Amsterdam people. If you happen to pass by during rush hours, (9 in the morning or 12 in the after-noon) you will see a long line of people waiting to get their favorite coffee. Lungoccino itself is a tiny café’ with not too much decoration, but it is cozy, intimate and serve the best coffee in town!

Don’t forget to book your hotel in Amsterdam in advance! Visit EasyToBook.com and check out their latest deals!

Friends and family, enter this competition and come see me in Amsterdam!

Here’s what I’ve been doing instead of blogging:

My dad came to Europe for the first time and we took a little trip to beautiful Venice, Italy.

Attended my very first football game and went camping in Scotland.

And finally spent the last three weeks in Berlin freelancing and saw the still very cute Macaulay Culkin stage dive at the Berlin Festival!

I’ll be back to old fashioned Amsterdam related posts soon!

I discovered the Blijburg Beach last week when biking through my new neighborhood in the oost. The beach is really nice, not nearly as crowded as Zaandvoort, and super close to Amsterdam.

You can get there really quickly by hopping on Tram 26 from central station in the direction of ijburg or you can ride your bike. From central station go behind the station and head east for about 30-40 minutes on the same road, the road will start as De Ruyterkade, then turn into Piet Hienkade, and then eventually into ijburglaan. You will start to see beachy areas and there are plenty of bike signs that lead you straight to the beach!

Here’s a map of your final destination.
View Larger Map

Hot and sunny, doesn’t even look like Amsterdam.

According to the NDSM website: A former shipyard on the northern banks of the IJ and larger than 10 football fields, the NDSM wharf is now a center for underground culture in Amsterdam. This huge area contains the NDSM hall, a hangar-like structure 20,000 sq. meters in area and 20 meters in height, and two historic ship slipways (Hellingen) housing workshops and artists’ studios.

If you wander around the surrounding area, you’ll notice that bohemians and anarchists alike have taken to alternative living quarters from broken down buses, to abandoned buildings and manholes.  Make sure to check out Noorderlicht, which is a really cozy cafe with delicious snacks housed in an old greenhouse.

1. Go with another person if you are a female but try not to be more than two total, there’s just not enough room in most cars.

2. Carry cardboard and markers to write your destination.

3. The best places to start and be dropped off are gas stations. It is a lot easier to walk up to someone and ask if they are heading in the same direction and join rather than hold a sign on the side of the highway.

4. Make sure you are being dropped off somewhere safe with lots of people. It can be a nightmare trying to find another ride if you are dropped off in the middle of nowhere so be clear about where you want to go before you get into a drivers car. We made that mistake in one car and it got us off track about 2 hours.

5. Leave early and don’t plan to be somewhere by a certain time. Hitchhiking is all about luck, it might take 3 hours or 9 hours to get to a certain destination based on who picks you up so don’t expect to be somewhere within a certain time frame.

Yeah thats about it. Hitchhiking in Europe is really really easy and fun! Here are some pictures from my trip.

Pumping gas with a trucker on the way to Maastricht.

Got stuck at a rest stop until..

Was rescued by drunken Belgian footballers!

Our final destination, the beautiful Ardennes, Belgium

“Our next conference will gather one thousand participants to explore the most overlooked aspect of innovation: people. Known in techno-parlance as users, people ultimately define the success of all technological and entrepreneurial projects. Their approaches are unique, influenced by cultural and generational diversity. Let’s explore the myths and uncover the reality behind the “connected people”.

The conference will host sessions on:
Understanding the different uses of technologies by each generation.
The redefinition of privacy.
The dynamics of online communities.
The myths and realities of online politics.
The future of media.
Mobile platforms, business model design, travel 2.0, creativity, democracy, innovation, etc.

Over the next three days, I will be attending workshops and blogging about “Reinventing books, magazines and newspaper in the digital age”, “From virtual to real world value : Collective Intelligence as an alternate source of media power”, and “Social networks and TV : love-match or marriage of convenience?”. If you are interested in learning more about the conference follow me on the Masters of Media blog for the University of Amsterdam this week!

Posts related to Amsterdam will still be published this week.