Since I was a child I always loved to go to the aquarium in Artis. This mysterious world that we will never really get to know makes me wonder and raises questions. I like this mysterious world. It’s a place to relax and think things over.

Surrounded by the growing business area of Amsterdam Zuid, this modernist historic monument from the 60's oozes freedom. The clash of strict, grey, practical architecture of Gerrit Rietveld with the chaotic, colourful, anarchic bustle of art students working in these spaces is amazing. The 5 years I spend here as a student changed my life and shaped me to a great extend to who I am today. Now, temporarily walking these corridors again as a guest teacher, I realise how much I had missed this place since graduating 8 years ago. This is not a common art school. It's a family, a movement with a very personal and radical approach. Many students coming for a temporary exchange end up staying, because after wandering through this twisted Mondrian painting you will never be the same…

The fence around De Nederlandsche Bank on the Frederiksplein is a true optical experience. While passing the building, a rhythmic, dynamic pattern appears and disappears in the trellis of the fence. The figures on the sides of the rails were designed in 1992 by artist Peter Struycken, a pioneer in the area of environmental art and generating computer-program based image, light and colour compositions.

Amsterdam is at it’s best when it is covered in a thick layer fresh fallen snow, I like to go out at night and wander through one of the parks, to experience this beautiful metamorphosis of a city landscape.

I’m not much of a bar-person, but if and when I do go for a drink, I love to come here. It’s simply the best brown café in Amsterdam. A little off the beaten track, in the middle of a residential neighborhood, you’d really have to go out of your way to come here. Nienke, the proprietress is what we call in Dutch “een topwijf ”. With her warm heart and no nonsense attitude she makes you feel right at home, whether you’re a regular and part of the bar’s furniture, or just pop in occasionally, just like myself.