What better time to get the munchies than on the eve of America's favorite all-you-can-eat holiday? (Halloween is amateur hour!) High Times magazine wants you to help it pick the best kind of pot at their 22nd annual Cannabis Cup held in, where else, Amsterdam. Technically, this year's tourney ends on Thanksgiving Day (beginning the 22nd), but if you flew home that day you could probably catch a late-night turkey dinner.

Many coffee shops in Amsterdam submit their own blends for the judging, but each year's cup also features a "surprise weed" that may not be distributed widely for months (if at all). There are some free samples, but even judges at large (a $250 pass gets you in the door, plus a T-shirt) have to buy samples in order to make an educated decision. On the other hand, just like at beer festivals, you'd be hard pressed to find a more efficient way to become a connoisseur of the wares than at the Melkweg concert venue in southwest Amsterdam.

Following on from our Do Not Disturb gallery yesterday, today we present to you the funky room keys at the Hotel Patou, Amsterdam, where we stayed this summer.

The Patou is a trendy little hotel on designer haven Hooftstraat, and as befits such a stylish gaffe, it eschews actual keys (too retro) and cards (too common) for these ingenious electronic key fobs.

Ingenious? Well yes. Because they are exceptionally light, hence easy to hoof around, have a nice leash to make losing them tricky (let’s face it, you’re in Amsterdam, and losing your key will be a pretty sure thing), and they don’t deactivate if you stick them next to your phone, as cards

A museum's newest treasure has become an international sensation thanks to the magic of Web 2.0. The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam has already strengthened its international profile in 2009 by sending a traveling exhibit called "Anne Frank - A History For Today" all around the world, from San Antonio to Soweto.

Last week, the museum—commemorating the teenage girl whose wartime diary chronicled her family's attempts to avoid the Nazis by hiding in the attic of an office building—took its subject to your home. Yes, you, sitting right there in front of that computer; the museum launched its own YouTube channel. The centerpiece is not a chat with Nelson Mandela or the testimony of diary finder Miep Gies, but instead a recently discovered bit of footage of Anne herself, the only such known moving image of her in the world.

REUTERS/Jerry Lampen

Energy-efficient LED lighting illuminates the World Heritage-listed windmills of Kinderdijk, Netherlands.

And it wasn’t the U.S. Okay, that might not be fair. Hillary Clinton and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg did show up at the festivities, and New York City tourism promoted a days-long 400th anniversary celebration.

But, according to the New York Times, the Netherlands went nuts, covering the just-ended festivities by sending “about 50 reporters to New York, with a major television station running nightly half-hour updates on the proceedings during prime time. And thousands of Dutch citizens crossed the Atlantic to take part, including Crown Prince Willem-Alexander.”

All that to celebrate the achievements of a Brit. So why the hubbub? “[H]is financial backer was the Dutch East India Company. (‘Who paid for the voyage,’ the crown prince said, ‘really counts.’)”

Remember, back in the day, when "gay" was just a synonym for happy? The tourist board Amsterdam is harking back to those times a bit with their new Everyone's Gay in Amsterdam campaign. The main target is LGBT travelers, but it goes deeper; they want to:

promote the city’s unique sense of openness and inclusivity that resonates with any visitor to Holland.

Print ads, half-hour travel specials and co-hosted events make up most of the campaign, plus a beautifully-designed website full of people looking really happy. In fact, it takes a bit of digging on the website to find anything specifically aimed at the LGBT target group, but there is a list of gay-friendly pubs and clubs if you look hard enough.

If you’re the kind of tech-minded traveler who rushed to replace your guidebooks with podcast tours, and erased your podcasts to make room for iPhone travel apps, then it’s time to start getting excited about the newest in travel technology: augmented reality.

Start-up company Layar is preparing to introduce the world’s first augmented reality browser—a sort of virtual guidebook that projects data onto the world in front of you. The technology is currently getting a test run in Amsterdam, where people can download a free Layar application to their smartphones. Then, holding the phone up in front of you, you’re shown information about restaurants and ATMs in your sightline, projected right onto the screen.

You know how when someone tells you they’re going to Amsterdam you give them a knowing look and think “I know what you’ll be up to, you dissolute human being”? Well you’d better stop doing that because this summer the 'Dam is all about the culture.

The Stedelijk Museum is running a mobile exhibition round town while it’s under refurbishment, the Royal Palace in Dam Square has just reopened, and on June 20, the Hermitage Museum of St Petersburg, no less, opened up a branch in a 17th-century building that used to be an old folks’ home.

Be careful what letters (or emails) you write: if you become famous, like Vincent van Gogh, the letters might end up on display for thousands of people to see. That's what's about to happen at the impressive Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, with a new exhibition including 120 letters written by van Gogh opening in October this year.

Most of the letters are from van Gogh to his younger brother, and it sounds like they give you some insight into his mental illness and his passion for art. The hundred odd letters they've picked will be displayed next to artwork that they refer to; in fact, there are another 800 letters around and many of them are about to be published in a book.

You can get into the Van Gogh Museum every day between 10am and 6pm – or until 10pm on Fridays – and at the moment the adult entry fee is €12.50 ($17.50). The letters – sensitive as they are – will only be on display for three months so don't leave your planning too long. Whether or not the letters solve the cutting-off-his-ear mystery is something we're keeping secret.

Related Stories:
· Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam [Official Site]
· Van Gogh Letters To Go On Display in Amsterdam [AFP]
· Amsterdam Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: Van Gogh Museum]