City Love Companions

Eindhoven is what would happen if IKEA would start to manufacture cities. It’s innovative, practical, easy to assemble, and surprisingly durable. My first encounter with Eindhoven was incidental. I vaguely recall a lady calling out a flight over airport speakers. That’s how I always thought about Eindhoven; as some meaningless airport city. Background noise compared to Amsterdam and all the other major destinations in the Netherlands. The truth is: Eindhoven is the backbone of the Netherlands’ industry. However, it began much earlier; even before people knew what industry is. The town dates back to the early 13th century. It was never a large city and that made it an easy target. Every time it got razed and pillaged, it rebuilt bigger and better. The real breakthrough for Eindhoven c...

Nothing signifies the importance of a city more than a “the” in front of its name. Hague is not just “a” Hague. It’s The Hague or Den Haag in Dutch. And it’s home to the Netherlands' main pubic institutions. Amsterdam is de facto the capital, but the central administration and ministries are located in The Hague. The city is also home to many international institutions. The Hague Tribunal is one of the most important courts in the world. That’s where you take your case if you feel mistreated by your national judicial system. The Peace Palace is the United Nations’ beacon of influence in Europe. It is home to the International Court of Justice, one of the UN’s most important institutions. Calling this place “a church of law and order” wouldn’t be an exaggeration. It ...

At first sight foreigners might perceive Rotterdam as a less friendly and less welcoming city than Amsterdam. The modern no-nonsense architecture is quite different from the picturesque old centre of Amsterdam. Compared to the capital there is a more “bright lights, big city” vibe which feels less cosy and intimate. But never judge a book by the cover. And besides: the skyline of Rotterdam with its skyscrapers, the Euromast tower and the majestic Erasmus Bridge (Erasmusbrug) over the Meuse (Maas) river is the best of the country. The Netherlands is a too small country for having real metro pole cities but Rotterdam comes most close. But it also has a laid-back attitude and friendly, human face. After all, the renowned Humanist Erasmus was born here and is intrinsically linked to this c...

Amsterdam, capital of my home country; the Netherlands. A tiny little kingdom at the North Sea: small in size, but larger than life in imagination and ambitions. Many foreigners refer to it as Holland, which is actually wrong since North and South Holland are provinces. One of the first things that come to mind of foreigners when they think of Amsterdam is one of those Ocean’s Eleven movies. I mean the one in which they try to rob an art collectors apartment but Vincent Cassel beat them to it. They used to meet up at one of those charming café’s right next to a canal, have a chat at one of the numerous bridges, looking at the characteristic architecture. Amsterdam has a worldwide reputation of the place to be for party animals, legal weed and prostitution, constant festivals all year ...