Netherlands

After serving as a restaurant for the past 15 years a German airplane from the 1960s is getting a third life as a luxury hotel suite for two. Located at Teuge airport in the Netherlands, what used to hold 120 passengers is now grounded and provides amenities for two such as crisp white interiors, a jacuzzi, sauna, a Blue Ray player, 3 flat screen tvs, and a hostess that's available 24/7. The cockpit has been left untouched for a dash of excitement and history, and parachute jumps and stunt plane rides are also available (via a different plane, of course) for the even more daring. The cost is €350/night for a single couple, which includes a full breakfast.

Via Treehugger



This isn't the first time we've seen an airplane pressed into service as a hotel. In Stockholm, a 747 has been turned into the Jumbo Hostel and in Costa Rica, a 727 fuselage makes a unique luxury suite.

For more than a century, Beemster has been hand-making gourmet cheese on its sustainable farm in the Netherlands. The cheese is matured for a minimum of 18 months and carefully crafted by master cheese makers. Michael Blum, Beemster's resident cheese expert, has some tips for holiday entertaining ranging from presentation to accompaniments and wine pairings:

1. Consume at Room Temperature: Cheese is most flavorful to consume at room temperature. All cheeses are best stored below 7 degrees Celsius/45 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Make the Cut: allow cheese to sit at least one hour at room temperature before cutting. Remove the rind by cutting back into the cheese half an inch before grating. Cut small snack-sized squares for cheese-plates or salads and grate cheese into small slivers for pasta or pizza.
3. Go Nutty: Cheese pairs excellent with nuts. Spruce up your cheese plate by including pecans, walnuts, macadamias or cashews. If you or your guests have a nut allergy, other snacks that go well with cheese are apples, grapes, pears, figs, dates, olives and picles.
4. Old and Sweet: Older cheeses, such as Beemster X-O, pair well with sweeter wines like Rieslings and ports.
5. Get Fresh: Young and fresh cheeses taste best with lighter beers. A good rule of thumb is the more mild the cheese, the lighter the beer.

On my recent visit to Holland, sponsored by the Netherlands Board of Tourism, we ventured up to The Hague (Den Haag) for the Dutch Fashion Awards and some museums. Though it wasn't originally on the itinerary, everyone on the trip was dying to see the Escher Museum (Escher in het Paleis).

The museum is located in the royal Lange Voorhout Palace, and features well kept original fixtures as well as several rooms dedicated to showing what the winter palace of Queen Mother Emma used to look like. Since then, the legendary Dutch graphic artist who's still blowing our minds almost 40 years after his death has been moved in, and the juxtaposition of decadence and mind-bending art is surprisingly harmonious.

If you're taking a trip to Amsterdam, a 45-minute trek up to The Hague is worth it just to see the museum, which not only has a far more extensive Escher collection than any of us believed was possible, but which also features a stunning array of crystal chandeliers in almost every room.

The chandeliers, like the enormous "Rain Cloud" in the foyer (above), are all works by Hans van Bentem (1965), a ceramics and glass artist from Rotterdam who happens to have a penchant for designing elaborate and unusual chandeliers. How unusual are they? Check out the gallery for a crystallized firefly, shark, trophy, umbrella, seahorse and more. The Hans van Bentem chandeliers are an exhibit all their own, and have appeared in the museum's formerly royal rooms since 2003. This is the full collection:

This trip was paid for by the Netherlands Board of Tourism, but the ideas and opinions expressed in the article above are 100% my own.

We recently got a chance to sample Van Gogh, the super-premium vodka from Holland named in tribute to the famous artist which holds a Royal Warrant from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. While Van Gogh is known for some pretty out-there flavors - you may remember Luxist posts on the Double Espresso and Dutch Caramel - our tastes are more conventional and so we opted to try the Oranje and Citroen versions as well as the classic 80 proof. The Oranje's authentic flavor comes from using both the orange pulp and skins. The pulp gives a round, sweet flavor while the rinds offer good intensity and a light bitterness for a perfect balance. Lemons and limes are the basis of Citroen, which has a fresh and intense flavor with a touch of bitterness from the rinds, and a long, clean finish. Van Gogh s produced in the historic Royal Dirkzwager distillery in Schiedam, recently renovated under the supervision of the Holland Monument Society. Master Distiller Tim Vos hand-crafts all Van Gogh Vodkas in small batches through a double infusion method, using only natural ingredients and premium grain alcohol.

While some automakers are celebrating their centenaries, Fiat's performance division is marking a much smaller anniversary: one year since the sport marque returned to the Dutch market. And to celebrate, they're launching an exclusive special edition of their hot-selling premium retro hatchback. Called the Fiat 500 Abarth Competizione, only ten examples will be made with a $35,000 price tag. For the premium price, a handful of buyers in the Netherlands will get special wheels and trim and all the extra equipment – including satellite navigation, climate control, special racing bucket seats and more – plus of course that indefinable quality we know as exclusivity.

Armed robbers absconded with two paintings from the Scheringa Museum for Realist Art in Spanbroek last Friday. One of them was a piece by Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali. An exact number of thieves was not reported, but they were "several," and they wore masks. Walking into this museum with guns, they threatened the museum staff and dashed off wit the prize.

Driving off in a little black car, the art bandits left with "Adolescence," painted by Dali in 1941, and "La Musicienne," by Polish art deco painter Tamara de Lempicka (1929). Both paintings are were owned by the museum.

If you have a taste for Dali, look for the fence. Just don't get caught!

If you want a night in a lifeboat, a lighthouse or in a crane, you might want to head to the picturesque port of Harlingen in the Netherlands. Dutch businessman Gosse Beerda offers all three hotel options for a trio of some of the world's most unusual hotels.

Bloomberg reports that the Crane Hotel was a functioning harbor crane used to unload timber until 12 years ago when a bigger industrial harbor was built nearby. The machine room of the crane is now a cozy room for two 55 feet high. Guests in the room can also head up to the control room and swing the cabin around. A Dutch breakfast is delivered in a lift and there is a small patio.

The lighthouse is also a one-room hotel and an old English lifeboat can be rented. Because each venue only has one room there is a long waiting list, up to a year in the case of the lighthouse and eight months for the crane. A night in either the crane or the lighthouse costs 319 euros.

The world's fastest production sailboat, Le Breton Yachts' SIG45 (above), is for sale in the Netherlands via global online luxury marketplace JamesList for about $900,000. The SIG45 (SIG stands for "Speed Innovation Grace" is capable of sailing in excess of 25 knots, a speed normally restricted to powerboats. It was "designed to fill the gap between a high performance racing boat and a luxury cruising yacht, in the same way that today's super cars fill the gap between F1 and regular cars."

Built entirely of carbon fiber, the SIG45 was designed by the architects of the world's fastest offshore sailing yachts. Unlike a pure racing craft however, the yacht features stunning lines and a minimalist yet luxurious interior created by superyacht designer Bjorn Johansson. High quality fabrics and fittings were used throughout the three double cabins, two fully equipped heads, galley, saloon and separate navigation station.

This traditional cruising yacht is Float, a Mulder 73 Wheelhouse built by the Netherlands-based company for a Swiss owner. The yacht has an all-aluminum construction and twin Caterpillar C12 engines so that the boat can hit a top speed of 24 knots. The exterior features a champagne hull finished with metallic paint and and underwater lighting aft. A transom door hides a tender. The interior of the yacht is done in white-washed teak and wengé wood and there is an iPod docking station with a Denon sound system in each cabin.