What's New

Unfortunately, U.S. visitors to Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges, and other Benelux cities continue to experience pocketbook pain. At this writing (late 2006), a dollar buys approximately 0.80€ -- down from a high of 1.20€ earlier this century! The Canadian, British, Australian, and New Zealand currencies haven't gone down as drastically, but citizens of these countries certainly don't have the luck of the euro-zone Irish, who walk the Benelux streets with even more spring than usual in their steps. The good news is that there are plenty of bargains if you shop around.

Many hotel, restaurant, store, museum, attraction, and entertainment prices haven't gone up by much, if at all, in the past 2 years, and some have even come down (though higher oil prices are having an impact on transportation costs).

Getting There -- Transeuropa Ferries (tel. 01843/595522 in the U.K.; www.transeuropaferries.com) recently introduced car-ferry service between the English Channel port of Ramsgate and Ostend, Belgium. This is the only such service from southern England to Belgium, though ferries sail from both Hull in northeast England and Rosyth (Edinburgh) in Scotland to Zeebrugge. Unlike these two routes, the Ramsgate-Ostend service transports only cars, other private vehicles, and commercial trucks, along with their drivers and passengers. No foot passengers are accepted.

Getting Around -- Construction of the underground stations and tunnels for Amsterdam's Noord-Zuid (North-South) Metro line, slated to be completed in 2011, continues. The line will run from Amsterdam-Noord, under Het IJ waterway to Centraal Station, and from there to Station Zuid/World Trade Center on the city's southern ring-road expressway. A new fast-tram line, no. 26, goes east from Centraal Station to the artificial islands of the new IJburg residential projects along the IJsselmeer's southern shore. The tram stops at the new Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ concert hall, the cruise-ship Passenger Terminal Amsterdam, and other new waterfront facilities. Centraal Station will for some years be a confusing construction site. A Metro station, the hub of the Noord-Zuid line, is being dug out and fitted out at the front; a new main entrance to the rail station, and improved passenger facilities inside, are being created; and the waterfront zone at the rear is being revamped. Harbor ferries now operate from the new Waterplein-West dock behind Centraal Station.

By the end of 2008, all public transportation in the Netherlands should be using the new OV-chipkaart. This chip-enabled smart card is loaded with a pre-selected number of euros which are then reduced automatically by electronic readers as you ride. During a transition period, both the new card and the old tickets will be accepted.

Only two Benelux cities still have electric trolley buses: Ghent and Arnhem. Ghent's single trolley-bus line, no. 3, suspended for several years for refurbishment, was reintroduced in 2005. Arnhem has reorganized its trolley-bus service into four lines (nos. 1, 3, 5, and 7) and confirmed its continuation until at least 2015.

Where to Dine -- British celeb chef Jamie Oliver has brought his Fifteen restaurant concept from London to Amsterdam, by opening a branch there. Try out his fun cooking at Fifteen Amsterdam, Pakhuis Amsterdam, Jollemanhof 9 (tel. 0900/343-8336; www.fifteen.nl), in the harbor redevelopment zone east of Centraal Station.

An old city favorite has been brought back from suspended animation. Pier 10, De Ruyterkade, Steiger 10 (tel. 020/427-2310; www.pier10.nl), was disassembled while construction work was being done on its pier behind Centraal Station, but it has now been reassembled.

On closings, city foodies got a shock in 2006 when French-born ace chef Jean-Christophe Royer sold up his canal-side, Michelin star restaurant Christophe, where he had been making magic for 20 years, and moved on to new challenges outside Holland.

What to See & Do -- In Amsterdam, the old harbor along Het IJ waterfront west, east, and north of Centraal Station is a giant redevelopment zone. This is a new kind of Amsterdam -- modern, bright, shiny, and on an untypically Dutch gargantuan scale. It remains to be seen how all this sits with the city's erstwhile homey, grungy, and seedy rep. In the meantime, a tour of these areas affords an idea of where Amsterdam -- for good or ill -- is headed.

The city's (and the nation's) premier cultural treasure house, the 1885-vintage Rijksmuseum, Jan Luijkenstraat 1B (tel. 020/647-7047; www.rijksmuseum.nl), is nearing the end of its 5-year mission to renovate and rebuild for a new era. Important paintings by the 17th-century Dutch Masters, among them Rembrandt's The Night Watch, and other highlights from its vast inventory, are exhibited under the title De Meesterwerken (The Masterpieces) in the Philips Wing. An information bureau in the museum gardens affords an insight into how the radically spruced-up institution will look when it reopens in 2008.

Another stellar museum with regular premises undergoing R & R is the modern-art Stedelijk Museum CS, Oosterdokskade 5 (tel. 020/573-2911; www.stedelijk.nl), which has set up shop temporarily in the old TPG Post building just east of Centraal Station (and temporarily added that "CS" tag to denote the change). Its projected date of return to its usual stamping ground at Paulus Potterstraat 13, just off Museumplein, has been kicked back to 2008. Over the next few years, Hermitage Amsterdam, Nieuwe Herengracht 14 (tel. 020/530-8751; www.hermitage.nl), a satellite of the world-famous State Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, should fully occupy its premises in the neoclassical Amstelhof building on the Amstel River.

The Hague's Galerij Prins Willem V, Buitenhof 35 (tel. 070/302-3435; www.gemeentemuseum.nl), has closed until 2008 because of construction work going on around it. Some of the Rembrandts and works by other Dutch Old Masters have been reinstalled in other galleries around town.

In Gouda, the antique pipe and plateel (Gouda pottery) collections from the Museum De Moriaan, which closed in 2006, are now displayed in the town's Museum Het Catharina Gasthuis, Achter de Kerk 14 (tel. 0182/588-440).

Shopping -- Amsterdam's renowned American Book Center has moved to a new home at Spui 12 (tel. 020/625-5537; www.abc.nl).

After Dark -- An ocean of glass and steel constructed on uncompromisingly modern lines, the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Piet Heinkade 1 (tel. 020/788-2000; www.muziekgebouw.nl) -- Amsterdam's new concert hall for modern, jazz, and experimental music -- has opened for business on the IJ waterfront east of Centraal Station. Occupying a kind of annex to this mega-building is the jazz club Bimhuis, Piet Heinkade 3 (tel. 020/788-2188; www.bimhuis.nl).