If you like vintage clothes and accessories, you’ll love Amsterdam. The best places to go for second-hand bits and pieces are:

Noordermarkt: on Mondays the Noordermarkt in the Jordaan, one of Amsterdam’s most authentic areas, is filled with stalls selling vintage clothes and accessories like bags, shoes, belts and jewellery from the sixties, seventies and eighties.
Noordermarkt; tram 6, 7 or 10

Waterlooplein: More vintage shopping at the Waterlooplein, a ten minute walk from the Rembrandtplein, bustling with merchants six days a week. Definitely the place to go when you’re looking for leather jackets, fur coats, jeans, or home ware from grandma’s era.
Waterlooplein; metro 51, 53, 54 or tram 9

Zipper: If you’re more into indoor than outdoor shopping, one of the best places for fashionable vintage is Zipper. The checked blouses and oversized baseball shirts are men’s favourites, women like everything at Zipper.
Zipper; Huidenstraat 7, 1016 ER Amsterdam (0031-20-6237302) and Nieuwe Hoogstraat 10, 1011 HE Amsterdam (20 623 70353)

Laura Dols: A no-go area for men, but women will love this shop. You’ll enjoy browsing the dresses and skirts they sell at Laura Dols. From the thirties all the way up to the eighties; if Marilyn Monroe were still alive, she would be shopping here.
Laura Dols; Wolvenstraat 6-7, 1016 EM Amsterdam (20 624 9066)

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I’m not very fond of bus tours filled with tourists and less-than-interesting tourguides, but in Miami I went on a tour which had my kind of guide.

Started up in Boston and now one of the most popular tours in Miami: the Duck Tour. It owes its name to the fact that it can drive as well as sail, so that you can see and hear Miami from every possible angle. The guide shows you around Miami and talks about its citizens and history, which is nice, but the best part is when the Duck hits the water.

While on the water you sail along Miami’s little islands, which are packed with multi-million dollar mansions. It was great to look into the garden of Shaquille O’Neal, to spy on Diddy in his ‘dump’ and to see all the other residences of Florida’s richest inhabitants.

Back on the streets the Duck takes you to the Port of Miami, past Ocean Drive and the home of the late Gianni Versace. The whole tour is really educational, especially for the Hello readers amongst us.

One minor drawback of the Duck Tour is that they take their name too serious. The quacking the passengers have to perform during the one and a half hour ride is most embarrassing.

Miami Duck Tour, 1665 Washington Avenue, South Beach, tel: 786 276 8300;
ticketing.ducktoursmiami.com

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Lincoln Road, crossing Collins Avenue, is the place to see and be seen. It’s crowded with tourists and their (screaming) kids during the day, but as soon as it’s bedtime for them, the street gets busy and bustling. Restaurants are fully booked inside and outside, and bars, cafés and restaurants fill every inch of the street with their tables, comfy couches, parasols and heaters (during wintertime).

The variety of eateries, shops and galleries on Lincoln Road is worth visiting more than just once. Make sure you end up at my favorite Miami restaurant for a bite: Sushi Samba, which also has restaurants in New York and Chicago. In this loungey looking place you’ll find a unique blend of Japanese, Brazilian and Peruvian cuisine, music and design.

You may have to wait at the bar for about half an hour if you don’t book, but as soon as you seen the menu, you’ll know it was well worth it. Just a little food advice: the Tuna Tataki ($12) and the Green Envy Samba roll ($11.50) are amazingly tasty!

Sushi Samba Drome, 600 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach;
tel: 305 673 5337;
Hours: Sunday - Thursday 12pm - 12am, Friday & Saturday 12pm - 2am
Samba brunch: Sunday 12pm - 5pm

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There are two malls you should definitely go to for a nice (and long) day of shopping: Bal Harbour Shops and the Aventura Mall. Bal Harbour is the Bond Street of Miami, where you’ll find the you-need-money shops like Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co and Saks Fifth Avenue. Have a drink in the fancy restaurant on the ground floor after you’ve finished shopping, Mister Moneymaking Miami might be sitting just next to you…

The Aventura Mall on the other hand has got more affordable shops, and when I say ‘shops’ I mean lots of them. Over 250 stores are housed in this 2.3m square foot indoor ‘walmalla’. High street stores like Gap, Banana Republic and Zara are accompanied by Abercrombie & Fitch, Victoria’s Secret, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s and a whole range of other must-see shops.

Bal Harbour Shops: 9700 Collins Avenue, FL 33154; tel: 305 866 0311; Aventura Mall: 19501 Biscayne Boulevard, N Miami Beach; tel: (305) 935 1110

For both malls, take the S bus from Miami Beach

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Just a ten-minute walk from the beach, bars and shops you’ll find one of the world’s most impressive Holocaust memorials. I’ve seen many world war two monuments, but the Holocaust Memorial at Meridian Avenue, Miami Beach, is truly breathtaking.

Arriving at the Memorial, the bronze arm and hand reaching for the sky immediately strike you. On the arm you’ll see life-sized sculptures depicting the horrified victims of the Holocaust, their terrifyingly realistic expressions causing you to shiver all over.

Opposite the monument one can see a black granite wall on which the history of the Holocaust is narrated through photographs and text. To go from the monument to this impressive wall, you’ll walk through a tunnel made from Jerusalem stone, in which the names of the infamous death camps are written.

Throughout the whole memorial, black walls are engraved with the names of approximately 25,000 Holocaust victims. These names have been put forward by their descendants and the remaining blank walls leave room for more names to be added.

You cannot leave Miami without having seen the Holocaust Memorial.

The Holocaust Memorial, 1933-1945 Meridian Avenue,
Miami Beach, FL 33139

Phone: +1 305 538 1663
www.holocaustmmb.org

Open 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. daily
Free admission - Donation accepted

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