I am in the Netherlands this week to attent the IMS meeting in Maastricht. I had to stay a night in Amsterdam so I picked the Movenpick that we will use at the Sakai meeting in June
I took some blog pictures as I found my way from Schipol to the Movenpick. To save money I took EasyJet from Gatwick – a lot less convienent than Nowthwest direct to Shipol airport. As you see Schipol is already decorated for Christmas – makes sense since Schipol is an Airport, Trainstation, and mall all rolled into one.
http://www.dr-chuck.com/images/2006/11/index.php?img=05-11-06_115244_01.jpg
Overall this is an excellent hotel. The decor is totally modern – reminds me of a W but with lighter woods and lots more color. They give you a glass of juice when you check in. The wireless is open and free (at least in my room). Tomorrow morning I will Blog some pictures of my room and the hotel when it is light.
=== More Review
Breakfast is excellent – the only weird bit is the chairs. The decor is totally modern and the chairs are these cool backless cube things with pads. The problem is that they are heavy and you need to bend way down to move a chair and at the four person tables you share a moveable bench with one other person. They are going for a faux-Japanese look – the look is a 150% winner – functionality is not so good for us chubby American travellers. But all in all a delightful breakfast.
In terms of location – it seems that the hotel is 15 minutes walking distance from the fun bits – but the tram stops *right* in front of the hotel – so we will all might as well learn the tram system and buy that multi-day tram pass as soon as we get off the airplane :)
http://www.gvb.nl/english/travellers/maps/lijnenkaart.html
Zoom into Centraal Station and look for the red tram line from the Centraal Station to Piet Heinkade.
The view out of the window to the northeast back towards Centraal Station is almost a clone of a view from the JA-Sig hotel in 2004 in New Orleans:
http://www.dr-chuck.com/images/2004/12/index.php?img=05-12-04_1752001.jpg
http://www.dr-chuck.com/images/2006/11/index.php?img=06-11-06_014426_01.jpg