November 3, 2005 | 12:30pm
Amsterdam may be as flat as a tasty Dutch pannenkoek, but don't call it featureless. Creative locals and an art scene that's as strong today as it was when Rembrandt first put brush to canvas add undeniable color to my adopted city, and architecture that blends seamlessly into day to day life means that even a trip to the grocery store can be a voyage of discovery. Needless to say, I've developed a serious crush on this city, with its legendary canals, cobbled streets, abundant flowers, towering church spires-and towering blondes.

In up-to-the-minute, contemporary galleries like < a href= http://www.w139.nl/w139.htm>W139 and Quarantine I've seen the future of art through a vibrant culture that's excited about the present, and passionately curious about the future. I've attended cutting edge exhibitions in the exhibition space De Appel, and I've experienced the future of jazz-and arguably that of performance space architecture-at the gorgeous waterside Bimhuis.

I've admired Renzo Piano's NEMO and contemplated that it's the perfect metaphor for this city: Rising as it does from the water to claim its place on Amsterdam's cultural landscape, the building appears to be perpetually moving forwards and I feel as though I'll miss something exciting should I momentarily divert my eyes.

In the Oostelijk Havengebied (Eastern Harbor Area) I've seen docklands reinvented as a desirable neighborhood, complete with boutique shops and housing like "the Walvis" (the Whale) and the myriad contemporary canal houses, livable as they are aesthetically pleasing. Forward thinking sociologists long ago descended on the neighborhood, anointing it as a model for Europe's future, so of course I've seen my share of slack-jawed tourists taking in the scope of so much good design, so much good architecture, so much good shopping-so much life.

At the Lloyd Hotel, I've slept in rooms that are furnished in part with cutting edge Dutch designs, and in part with textiles that come from some of this country's most storied factories. In the same place I've watched a cultural meeting place spring up from a dilapidated migrant hotel, I've attend art exhibitions, and I've witnessed the difference an exciting architectural facelift-this one by the powerhouse Dutch architectural firm MVRDV (famous for the Silo Dam)-can make. I've walked over the nearby, dreamlike and writhing "Python Bridge" and been challenged to reconsider what a bridge should be, mindful that the Dutch character, for all its seriousness, is artistic and playful-And yes, why can't a bridge rise and fall and then rise and fall again?

Perhaps best of all, I've placed my adopted home into context.

At the imposing Rijksmuseum-the Netherlands' national museum-I've stood face to face with Rembrandt's Night Watch-something that countless more will receive when they descend on Amsterdam in 2006: The "Year of Rembrandt" marks the 400th anniversary of his birth and the Rijksmuseum will no doubt be the city's cultural ground-zero.

In the Van Gogh Museum's two acclaimed buildings-one from Dutch genius Gerrit Reitveld and the other by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa-I've browsed the world's largest collection of the artist's work, and marveled at his Sunflowers. At the Cobra Museum I've "discovered" an indigenous art movement that had nothing to do with the Golden Age, and all the while, that crush has evolved into a deep, deep love.

W139
Oosterdokskade 5-6th Floor
(0)20 622 9434
www.w139.nl

Quarantine
c/o Loods 6
KNSM-laan 143
(0)20 418 2020
www.quarantine.nl

De Appel
Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 10
(0)20 6255651
www.deappel.nl

Bimhuis
Piet Heinkade 3
(0)20 788 2150
www.bimhuis.nl

Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy
Oostelijke Handelskade 34
(0)20 561 3636
www.lloydhotel.com

The Rijksmuseum
Jan Luijkenstraat 1
(0)20 674 7000
www.rijksmuseum.nl
Open daily 9am-6pm

The Van Gogh Museum Paulus Potterstraat 7
(0)20 570 5200
www.vangoghmuseum.nl
Open Sat-Thu 10am-6pm; Fri 10am-10pm

Cobra Museum
Sandbergplein 1
(0)20 5475050
Open Tue-Sun 11am-5pm