My favourite and neighbourhood bookstore. With a good selection of books and a balanced selection of magazines. If possible I buy my books here. I want to support small business. 

This place has, beside the excellent pastry, the best shrimp croquettes in town. 

Her I enjoy the quit and concentrated atmosphere. I go to the library if I need some new input or just want to work somewhere else than in my studio. You can also just go there to relax at one of the beautiful spots in the building. Or have some food at the top floor with a beautiful view over Amsterdam.

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.

The portal between the Leidseplein nightlife area and the Max Eeuweplein is pompously accentuated by a classical looking façade, designed in 1991 by Zaanen Spanjers Architects. On the frieze, supported by columns, the architect has carved an inscription: ‘Homo sapiens non urinat in ventum’ - ‘A wise man does not piss into the wind’. A ‘wisecrack’, disguised in Latin.