1st World Happiness Report

Remember last year when Forbes published a 'Happiest Countries' Report? This year the United Nations published their first World Happiness Report and guess where the Netherlands are? This explains the ranking system.

1) Denmark
2) Finland
3) Norway
4) NETHERLANDS

USA comes in at 11.

Yahoo has an interesting take on the Netherlands. They ask a chicken or the egg question. Do the bicylces and Tulips exist because the Dutch are happy or are they the reason for Holland's happiness?

The Happiness Report is 1 of 2 reports filed this year ranking the countries of the world. The Happiest Countries Report shows a snapshot of the state of the world's happiness. While the second report "Happy Planet Index" (The Forbes article) tallies how a country balances personal well-being, environmental impact, and life expectancy. This list includes more countries that a vacation going would be interested in. The Netherlands is farther down this list.

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de Vries, Hans de Vries. Almost.

In 1967 THE James Bond (Sean Connery) decided to step away from the world of James Bond films. EOS studios thus had to find a replacement. It came down to 5 men. 2 Brits, an American, a Australian, and a Dutchman. John Richardson, Anthony Rogers, Robert Campbell, George Lazenby, and Hans de Vries. None of those names ring a bell? George Lazenby won the part for the 6th Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. A movie that has been lauded both as the worst and one of the best Bond films in the franchise. If you haven't seen it, you should. It was the Bond film that 'Breaks the Fourth Wall', Bond gets married, wears a kilt, and goes skiing. But the reason for this post is instead of this; (Yes, THAT is James Bond) We could of had this. Improvement? Probably not. He looks a wee bit angry. Plus, no one watches OHMSS anyway. So, did de Vries have a movie career after Bond? Ha, no. The only notable movie rolls I can find for him were pre bond. And that was

General Recommendations for Amsterdam

Do not be sucked in by Argentinian or Italian restaurants, they are everywhere instead go to the outskirts of town for some excellent local food. Come in through central station-> if coming with luggage prepare yourself to wheel your bags over rough cobblestones to your hotel. Walk streets before biking them, otherwise you will get hopelessly lost. Rental bikes- find one close to hotel or a spot that you want to see as you walk back to the hotel, scout out prices, check your bike before you leave to see if you have a small map attached on the back, be careful about brightly colored bikes because they mark you as a tourist [which tells the Amsterdamers to take it easy on you when biking but also draws unsavory types], always lock your bike completely Try to get off Damrak (main tourist street)- it's really crowded with luggage wheeling tourists, full of souvenir shops, and lousy restaurants Canal boat tours are worth it especially if your feet are tired from walking

Voedsel

If you enjoy eating delicious food and/or being gastronomically adventurous your entertainment surrounds food. That being said I will try almost anything once and the Netherlands does not have many foods that really scare me ( cow tongue, squid, chitlins) When we set our feet down in Amsterdam I immediately thought of all the foods I wanted to try. Some words that I quickly became familiar with were 'gesloten' (closed) and open and the abbreviations for the days of the week The food. Pickled herring-> no I didn't try them. I know, I know; during the winter they only have the canned variety so you need to wait until May-June to get the years fresh catch called 'hollandse nieuwe' Bitterballen-basically hush puppies. They can be filled with different things. Frites-normally with frites sauce which is most similar to mayonnaise, but it is a tad lighter with a hint of lemon in my opinion. The food to eat in Amsterdam, no you can not start a diet while tr

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