Around Town Plus daytrips outside the city Edited by Anna Whitehouse
Winter Wonderland Pink Evangelical Celebration at Keizersgrachtkerk (Keizersgracht 566) on Christmas Day, before the party wraps up on a totally different beat at Club Escape on 26 December from 19.00 to
Plop the kids on the Winter Express train, carts pulled by three real reindeer midnight with a big evening of house, funk and live vocal, percussion and surprise acts. pinkchristmas.nl.
If you’re kitsch happy
Snow business: Rembrandtplein is transformed into a festive funfair
This holiday season, Amsterdam brings you a circus wheel of death and sequined drag queens on ice. Marie Charlotte Pezé went in search of chill-filled fun, from traditional fare to the kooky and spectacular
If you need a good feed Much like the medieval feasts of centuries gone by, the Winterparade takes over the Westergasfabriek from 16 to 26 December with a 120-metre long banquet-style table, on which there’s an actual parade of dance, theatre and poetry performances. While most of the acts are in Dutch (except the mime, acrobatics and singing, of course), the vats of mulled wine, abundant foods and hordes of musicians should create a festive mood irrespective of any language barriers. Just try not to get your bread stomped by a minstrel. winterparade.nl.
If you’re a die-hard for tradition Still get a bit giddy over the humble Christmas tree? The official 18 metrehigh tree lighting ceremony takes place on Dam square on 9 December around 18.30. The next day, the city’s
official all-out winter fest, Winter Magic, is kicked off with the lighting of the Magere Brug (you might know it as the ‘Skinny Bridge’) at 17.30. Belt it out at the Christmas sing-along on the Amstel on 18 December, because your performance may end up on TV on Christmas Day. The climax of the celebrations is on 23 December with the spectacular Christmas Canal Parade of twinkling, illuminated boats floating down the Prinsengracht, including one masquerading as Santa’s sleigh. Winter Magic ends 1 January with the Best Wishes Tour cruise, a long line of illuminated boats whose passengers and guests of honour are folks who made the city a better place in 2010. wintermagicamsterdam.com.
Party on 17 December at the rink in Rembrandtplein. On 18 December, gay bars such as Queen’s Head and Mandje will set up stalls along the Zeedijk, offering drinks and oliebollen before an outdoor fashion show at 20.00. Of course, it’s not a real pink Christmas until the drag queens and kings of Amsterdam put on their sequined leotards and ice skates and compete for as-yet undisclosed prizes at the Drag Winter Olympics, on 19 December from 16.00 to 18.00 at the Leidseplein rink. There will be carolling on the chosen theme, ‘The Difference’, at the
This holiday season, Christmas has spilled its guts all over Rembrandtplein, which is transformed into a Swiss Alps village theme park. Until 2 January, stumble along to ‘Winterland’ where the boutique-chalets offer Christmas stocking-stuffers and holiday foods, and the Winterland Café serves hot chocolate to the frostbitten. Ride the old-fashioned Winter Carousel or plop the kids on the Winter Express train, a couple of carts pulled by three real reindeer, and everyone can go for a spin in the huge ice-skating rink. winterlandamsterdam.nl.
If you love the sounds of the season Holiday concerts will keep you singing through the chill. The annual Chanoeka Klezmer (traditional Yiddish music) concert takes over the gorgeous Portuguese Synagogue, lit festively with
If your faux snow is pink If you’re tired of the same old red Santa, dress him in pink this year with ProGay’s series of holiday events. Kick things off at the Pink Ice
Drag Winter Olympics
Winterland
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Around Town
Holiday market at Westergasfabriek (top); Tumblers at Carré a thousand candles on 8 December (JD Meijerplein 7; 624 5351/esnoga.nl). The Nieuwe Kerk is also lighting the candles for a concert on Christmas Day at 15.00, featuring Gustav Leonhardt and Bernard Winsemius playing organ works for organ by D’Aquin, Bach, Pachelbel and other classical masters. (For more Christmas concerts, see Classical & Opera, page 84).
If you’re in the mood for Mass Free Christmas Eve and Christmas Day masses will be held at St Nicolaaskerk on Prins Hendrikkade 72, including abbey liturgy, Christmas choirs and polyphonic works by the 18-member Cappella Nicolai choir. muziekindenicolaas.nl.
If you’re into clowning around Expect aerial ballets and acrobatics, including a Chinese troupe that
juggles towers of people with their feet, from 16 December to 2 January 2011 at Royal Theater Carré’s annual World Christmas Circus. A more Fellini-esque show will be presented by the family street theatre troupe Circus Zanzara, one of Europe’s smallest circuses at Westerpark, from 17 December through 2 January. Expect hula-hoops, trapeze acts, acrobatics and tricks by trained dogs, horses and ducks – all under a circus tent. theatercarre.nl; circuszanzara.nl.
If you want to glide through the season Until that rumoured millennial cold front hits and all the canals freeze over, Amsterdam is chock-a-block with ice rinks. On Leidseplein, until 9 January 2011, from 11.00 to midnight daily, the teensy rink will be surrounded by a Christmas market featuring carolling. On Museumplein, the wading pool will be frozen from 17 December to 27 February 2011 and open daily from 10.00 to 17.00, with a poffertjes stand to help skaters load up on carbs between spins.
If you forgot to buy gifts Funky Sinterklaas on 5 December and Funky Christmas on 12 December are both offbeat outdoor markets selling eccentric and mostly handmade holiday crafts created by artists. According to Jacqueline Verheugen, who works at the Westergasfabriek, there will be a stand with ‘mulled wine that gets you drunk just by smelling it’ and a vinyl DJ on hand to set the shopping rhythm. On 19 December, the Albert Cuyp Markt in De Pijp has holidaythemed stalls and Christmas trees.
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