"Dutch Pancakes"

While taking a nice walk around Amsterdam you will probably see some signs for "Dutch Pancakes" also called "pannenkoek". If you get any chance to visit Amsterdam you should definitely try one of those pannenkoek in the Pancake Bakery.

The Pancake Bakery is a very nice little Pancakehouse where I got one of the best dutch Pancakes I had in Amsterdam. It has an open kitchen and a great menu with a lot of different choices. You can get sweet Pancakes with e.g. banana and nutella, caramel and ice cream, syrup/sugar... but also savoury Pancakes with e.g. bacon and cheese, chicken, ham and mushrooms and so on for an affordable price. It's located directly in the center of Amsterdam at Prinsengracht 191. I really can't wait to go there again and I hope you will enjoy your pannenkoek there as much as I did. www.pancake.nl/

Weekend Trip to Groningen

2600 km, 24 hours of driving through half europe... one customs control on the Autobahn, one broken bike, one broken camera, shitty weather but a great weekend out in Groningen!

By now people must have noticed that I'm really into road tripping.
Two weeks ago, I went to Groningen with a friend to meet up with some friends which had been
on Exchange with us in Macau, China!

When people think about The Netherlands most likely cities like Amsterdam or Maastricht will
come to their mind.

Groningen situated in the north-western corner of country, just 20km off the North Sea, is really worth a visit though.
So what does make Groningen special? 185000 people live in Groningen of which well over 50000 are students making Groningen THE student city of The Netherlands. Thus you can imagine Groningen offers a vibrant nightlife. Personally I can recommend the VERA club which is situated in the heart of the city. Apart from that the historic city center is always worth a visit, offering beautiful sites like the Martini tower which is the landmark of Groningen as well.

So that's been the Groningen 2009 road-trip review.
But stay tuned, soon to come:

How (not) to spend too much money on a weekend-trip to Paris &
and another exclusive reviw on a 3 day Berlin trip.

Cheers Patrik

Amsterdam - smoker friendly bar

In Amsterdam smoking at public areas is prohibited, you are actually also not allowed to smoke tobacco in Coffeeshops (they have smoking areas there). So there is almost no possibility to smoke and maybe also drink a nice beer - even not in the smoking areas of the Coffeeshops, as many of them are not allowed to sell alcohol. A very nice alternative is the smoker-friendly bar “Barneys Uptown”. It’s compared to the Coffeshop “Grasshoper” (which also features a smoker-friendly bar) not a touristy place which tries to mainly attract tourists but a place where also locals go. There you are allowed to smoke, drink alcohol, enjoy the time in a great atmosphere and you can also get some snacks and burgers. The Bar is located near Centraal Station (about 5-10 min walk) and across the street is the Barney’s Coffeeshop. I used to go there a lot with friends and if this arouse your interest, check out their homepage: http://www.barneys.biz/