The Museumquarter

Is the Vondelpark too busy? Please come to the Museumsquare, wherealway's is enough space to relax, to have a picknic, to enjoy the view, to play soccer and more... In the summertime you can have fun in the shallow pond next to Cobra Café and in the winter, it's ice-skating time! Lots of (semi) professional basketball-players gather at the basketballcourt next to the terrace of Cobra. On the Museumsquare large events are being organized on regularly basis like: Amsterdam Culinair, Queensday and Amsterdam Fashionweek.

In the direct surroundings of Cobra café you can find the most important museums of the country. Het Rijksmuseum with the Dutch Masters, the Van Goghmuseum, wich always has an excellent program and the Stedelijk Museum, now temporary located in a building next to Central Station (back on the Museumsquare in 2009). The museum of Coster Diamonds atracts a lot of national and international visitors and experience a spectacular adventure in taste, smell, image and sound and get to know the glamorous World of Bartending in the House of Bols in the Paulus Potterstraat.

50 meters from the Museumsquare, you'll find the shoppingparadise P.C. Hoofdstraat. This is one of the most luxury shopping streets of Holland and here you can find all exclusive brands like: Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Armani, Gucci, Lacoste, Bulgari, Oger, Chanel, and Trusardi. Many famous Dutch people, less famous people and wannabe's do their shopping in the "PC".

The Van Baerlestraat has developed into an atractive shopping, culinair and cultural area the last decades. You can find a lot of shops, bars and restaurants that are really worth visiting. In the Van Baerlestraat is also the worldfamous (for it's acoustics) Concertgebouw (Concerthall) established.

Het Concertgebouw is a concerthall in Amsterdam. Because of it's superiour acoustics, this building is considered as one of the best halls for symphonical music. Every year there are about 800 concerts organized for an audiance of 850.000 people.

Both halls wear the names of all composers who were appreciated the most during (and after) the construction of the building in 1881.

Pétanque (pronounced [pe.tɑ̃k] in French) is a form of boules where the goal is to throw metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet (jack). The game is normally played on hard dirt or gravel, but can also be played on grass or other surfaces. Sandy beaches are not suitable.

The Petanque Club Museumplein - Amsterdam can be found oftenly on the quare. Cobra Café lends her guests Petanque balls to play a few games. Do you want to learn the game or finetune your techniques? Ask a player of the Petanque Club, who you will find in the neighbourhood for sure, to teach you some techiques.