Seven Bridges in Amsterdam

Strolling through the flower-lined canal streets in Amsterdam is a great delight in summer, particularly if you’re staying in a hotel that makes casual sunrise and sunset walks convenient.

My husband, John, and I visited Amsterdam for eight days in July ’09 and stayed at the Seven Bridges Hotel (Reguliersgracht 31, 1017 LK Amsterdam, Netherlands; phone 011 31 20 623 1329, fax 20 624 7652, www.seven

bridgeshotel.nl), located on a quiet street around the corner from the intersection of Keizersgracht and Reguliersgracht, just blocks from the Rembrandtplein.

We make it a habit to stay in the historic centers of most European cities that we visit, and the Seven Bridges Hotel has been one of our favorite finds. The hotel is easy to get to. From the Central Station, we took Tram No. 4 for just €4.8 ($7) to the Keizersgracht tram stop and walked one short block to the hotel.

From this central point we were able to walk easily to nearly every section of the city. For those who like shorter walks, there are multiple trams departing from the Rembrandtplein, and the canal boats have stops just blocks away.

The 300-year-old canal house has been beautifully refurbished yet maintains its character. The only drawback is there is no elevator and you’ll have to maneuver up a curvy, narrow staircase. Staff take care of your luggage, though, so no worries.

Each of Seven Bridges’ 10 rooms is comfortably filled with antiques from all parts of Europe. We were very pleased with our selection of Canal Room 6, a spacious room with a gilded ceiling, comfortable leather club chairs, Art Deco Tiffany lamps and a magnificent French mirror from the 19th century. The bathroom with white and aqua tiles was bright and large, though a little more shelf storage would have been even better. We paid €115 ($162) per night.

On our last night we moved to Garden Room 5 (€130), an even larger room with access to a private roof patio and a view of the gardens. This room was most notable for its many fine mirrors (18th-century Louis XVI and a 19th-century Italian among them), a king-sized bed, marquetry decorations and a very spacious bathroom with full tub. There were the modern conveniences of phone, AC and large-screen television.

Given the hotel’s small size, there are no public rooms or dining rooms, but none are needed with such lovely views from each room, whether canalside or garden.

Having breakfast served daily in our room at no extra charge was a real bonus. The enormous buffet breakfast of croissants, cheese and cold cuts, fresh fruit, yogurt and coffee, tea and juice was bountifully displayed on fine china by Villeroy & Boch.

We highly recommend the hotel and its service-oriented staff. Eric and other staff members were always helpful, cheerful and full of good suggestions.

LINDA OLLIS

Omaha, NE