While I was running around Amsterdam on Museumnacht (an annual event where museums across the city stay open into the wee hours), I found something for which I didn't know I was looking: the world's most expensive cocktail shaker.

The Boston Shaker, as it's called, is located in the gift shop of the House of Bols, a flavored liqueur company whose on-site museum/training facility is worth visiting -- they won the the Dutch Design Award for Best Exhibition & Experience in 2007 and you get to play "guess what flavor you're smelling." It's just across the street from the Van Gogh museum.

The Boston Shaker was created as a collaboration between The House of Bols and their neighbor, Coster Diamonds. It comes packaged as above, in a unique leather case designed and made by French family business Établissements Bernard RDB. The shaker itself is silver, 18 karat gold, and is encrusted with 480 brilliant-cut diamonds weighing 19.05 carats.

The price tag on this one-of-a-kind blinged-up barware is €35,000.00 or approximately $52,164.00.

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.

Rotterdam is a great city for architectural enthusiasts -- and actually, for enthusiasts of construction, since the city is really proud of its ongoing modern building efforts, which includes a complete redesign of the city's train station. (The city feels like a modern palate-cleanser if you visit after an immersion in Amsterdam's historic canal-lined streets, although some will look at you funny there if you say you're going to Rotterdam. Don't step into the middle of this one, Rotterdam thinks it's way cooler and more creative than Amsterdam.)

One of the most iconic structures in town are the Cube Houses, designed by architect Piet Blom in the late 1970's, built in the mid 1980s, and they definitely capture the feel of that era. The city apparently was considering using the cubes as ex-convict housing, but now, Stayokay is using it as a just-opened youth hostel. So if you want to really go retro, and return to your younger days, you can stay in a cube in a shared room for under 20 euro a night. Personally, I'd visit #70, which is open as a museum, and stay at The Westin.

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!

In a bad economy one of the reliable jobs seems to be restaurant work but could the cocktail waitress soon be obsolete? The Minibar nightclub in Amsterdam offers individual minibars that let patrons serve themselves. You check in with the concierge who gives you access to one of 45 small fridges which is stocked with beer, wine and spirits (there are also special bars just for beer and champagne only). The private fridges are stocked with snacks and you can also order from a delivery menu of fresh sushi and seasonal dishes. It's too soon to say if the concept will catch on and spread.

[via Springwise]

As a confirmed accessories aficionado, I thought it couldn't get any better than the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto -- until I visited Amsterdam's Tassenmuseum, which is the Museum of Bags and Purses. Like Bata, the Tassenmuseum has a permanent collection which tells the history of the handbag via a collection of some 3,500 purses which date back to 1500, up to the present moment.

On display now until August 23 is "Beastie Bags", a small exhibition of handbags made from, or inspired by, animals. There are bags made from the usual suspects, crocodile skin, for example, and there are older bags using materials from animals that are now protected or endangered, including ivory and tortoise shell.

Contemporary bags include those made from the leather of sting rays and toads, but the most compelling contemporary bags of the collection are by Netherlands designer Evelyn van Oosterhout, who has made handbags from fish -- in the bag pictured here, sea bream lined with hare fur. The exhibit notes that fish leather is thin, but extremely tough. (She also made a very witty, if totally gross, bag made from used fly paper, also on display.) Carrying one of these on your arm will certainly be a conversation starter.

Van Oosterhout's site is in Dutch but has many more photos of these purses, including the fly paper purse, and other accessories. Warning: some images not for the squeamish. Van Oosterhaut says her bags range in price from €280 for a small red snapper bag to €550 for a sea bream bag.

Amsterdam's red light district has always been as much of a tourist attraction as a place of infamous business but now some of the brothel rooms are being turned into art studios. Reuters reports on Redlight Art Amsterdam, a project that is part of plans to revitalize the city by limiting the number of brothels and coffee shops selling marijuana. Prostitution is still legal in the Netherlands and some women are still in business next to the artists.

Some of the purchased buildings will eventually be given a permanent function for the city but for one year they offer national and international artists a chance to display their creations. There are eight artists participating in the project and a final exhibition is planned for the second half of the year.

Amsterdam has been wrestling with its most notorious industry for a long time. The move to legalize prostitution in 2000 took place to help curb gangster activity in the sex trade. The Dutch government is trying to clean up organized crime but some feel that it is going to far and that tourism will suffer as the city loses its edge. A large portion of the tourists who visit the city are attracted by the cannabis coffee shops and the liberal attitude toward prostitution. The city is hoping that by limiting the spread of the coffee shops and prostitution to a few key areas it will be able to attract a new crop of tourists more interested in Amsterdam's museums and scenic charms.

The beautiful painting shown above is now part of a dispute between Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum and JP Morgan Chase. The painting, Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde's The Bend in the Herengracht near the Nieuwe Spiegelstraat in Amsterdam (1672), was purchased by the museum from Dutch businessman Louis Reijtenbagh last year. But it turns out that the painting is on a list of art that Reijtenbagh used as collateral to secure a loan. The bank got most of his art collection earlier this month and now wants this painting too. JP Morgan Chase filed a claim in a New York federal court to seize the painting saying that the businessman shouldn't have sold it to the museum if he was using it as loan collateral.

The painting is currently in Washington D.C. It is on loan to the National Gallery through May 3 as part of the exhibition "Pride of Place: Dutch Cityscapes of the Golden Age."

Jewelry store Tiffany & Co. is planning to open its first store in Amsterdam this fall. The new store will be approximately 2,100 square feet and located in a historic building on PC Hooftstraat, the Dutch city's main shopping street. Tiffany's architects and designers have pledged to preserve the building's original façade while giving it the Tiffany treatment on the inside with brushed stainless steel, custom furnishings and of course plenty of robin's egg blue boxes and diamonds.

Melvyn Kirtley, Group Vice President, Tiffany & Co. Europe says that opening the first Tiffany store in Amsterdam is a strong vote of confidence for Tiffany's growth potential in Europe. In the U.S., Tiffany recently announced plans to close its pearls-only store chain, Iridesse.

Lucas Bols, the world's oldest distilled spirits brand originally established in 1575 in Amsterdam, has relaunched its Dutch Genever gin, a white spirit created almost two centuries ago. The word "gin" has disappeared from the new bottle (above) in favor of "grain neutral spirits", as the old world Genever bears little resemblance to the dry London gins we're familiar with these days. Bols Genever is made by blending a unique distillate called maltwine with a carefully selected secret blend of botanicals; the result is a superior quality spirit with a unique smooth character that can be made into a variety of delicious cocktails. Genever has in fact been an essential cocktail ingredient for nearly two centuries; Jerry Thomas, author of the world's first cocktail book The Bartender's Guide cited it as one of only four essential cocktail spirits back in 1862.

Our slightly older sister site, Gadling, the source for travel news, is holding a contest to celebrate their birthday this week. They are giving away a pair of round trip tickets to Amsterdam on the newest premium carrier, OpenSkies. OpenSkies is the new premium carrier which flies rom the east coast into Europe. Earlier this year they launched their first route between JFK and Paris, and as of October 15th they're starting their second route from JFK into Amsterdam. The tickets are for Prem+, OpenSkies' signature upper class service which offers wide leather seats, a comfy cabin and attentive service on your journey. To enter head on over to Gadling and tell them why you need to go to Amsterdam.

The latest hotel brand promises "affordable" luxury" for travelers on the go. Citizen M is a new Dutch hotel group which takes its name from the idea of mobile citizen. The rooms include a super king-size bed, a wall-to-wall window for plenty of natural light, a flat LCD television, ambient lighting and a rain shower. Each room can be customized with mood, light, temperature and music preferences. The lobby is stocked with Vitra furnishings and canteenM offers a 24-hour choice of sandwiches, salads, sushi, warm dishes and more. In-house baristas prepare coffee and other beverages and there is a bar for cocktails in the evening. The first citizenM hotel will open at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam with 230 rooms at the beginning of 2008 and rates will start at 69 euros a night.

The newest luxury hotel in Amsterdam is the Grand Hotel Amrâth Amsterdam, a five-star hotel which recently opened its doors in the heart of the city center. The hotel is located inside Amsterdam's famous "Scheepvaarthuis," the Shipping House which is an Amsterdam landmark and a symbol of Holland's history of shipping. The new hotel has 163 rooms and suites which have a nautical theme. Other seafaring touches are seen in the main entrance hall which has a stained glass ceiling depicting the globe, the seven oceans and star signs and a marble staircase decorated with shells, octopuses and other figures. The ground floor is home to a bar/lounge and the Seven Seas restaurant. The former safe will become a wine bar set to open in the fall. A planned wellness center with a pool and a gym is also set to open later in the year.

So often in the depths of winter we get to see the really cool yacht concepts. Just something to keep us going until boat season. Recently at the Millionaire Fair in Amsterdam, Maarten de Bruijn (the man also behind the rebirth of the Spyker car brand) debuted the Silvestris 23' Sports Cabriolet. The Silvestris is a a sexy new all aluminum speedboat which has a seawater-resistant, leather-trimmed interior that can be sealed off with the touch of a button. Production on the 23-foot boat has begun and Silvestris Haute Motive Concepts is also planning similar "haute couture" automotive and aerospace projects.

[via The Yacht Report]

If you need a companion for your diamond lipstick and mascara, Amsterdam-based KOH Cosmetics has it. They recently unveiled the KOH diamond-studded nail file at the Millionaire's Faire in Amsterdam. The file uses over 28 carats of diamonds set in a 18K gold grip and is valued at 39,950 euros. The proceeds from the sale of the file will be used to help support HIV infected pregnant women in Africa. Margreet Van Roemburg, president of KOH Cosmetics has said that KOH plans to offer a series of diamond-studded collectors' items over the next few years and will donate all proceeds from the series to Orange Babies, a charity organization created by the fashion community to provide support to HIV infected pregnant women in Africa.

[via Diamonds.net]

Another hotel concept is launching this time in Antwerp and Amsterdam. The cutely named Qbic is budget-conscious chic. Each room is a cube-shaped living space called a Cubi. The Cubi is equipped with a Hästens bed, Philippe Starck bathroom fixtures, TV and wireless internet. The Cubi makes ample use of LED fabulousness, letting you set the color and theme of your room. The upholstery can also be changed with switchable panels.

The service is strictly hands-off. The hotel lobby has a digital kiosk with a screen that lets guests find infor on restaurants, movies and other attractions. There is also a "Grab-and-Go Corner" that will offer food and beverages as well as items such as toothbrushes, chargers, phone cards, magazines or condoms. Qbic will reward early reservations using a system where rates run from 39 to 139 euros per night. Checking in and paying is also done electronically on site. The first two Qbic hotels will open early next year.