The Unexpected at Hôtel Droog

I found Hôtel Droog (Staalstraat 7b) listed in the “Distinctly Amsterdam” section of the National Geographic book Walking Amsterdam: The Best of the City.

Hotel Droog by Jennifer Hartnett-Henderson ©2014
Hôtel Droog, Shirt Hangar Lamp by Jennifer Hartnett-Henderson ©2014

The hotel part is a one-bedroom attic apartment on the top floor. The Droog part is a design emporium, designed interior, exhibition space, and café. The interiors turn your expectations upside down. In one room blue birds fly across the ceiling of a room with walls of windows as if the outside has come in.

Hotel Droog Courtyard of Blue Birds by Jennifer Hartnett-Henderson ©2014
Hôtel Droog Courtyard of Blue Birds by Jennifer Hartnett-Henderson ©2014

In another room, a young man examines you from the safety of his place on the wall.

Hotel Droog Dining Room by Jennifer Hartnett-Henderson ©2014
Hôtel Droog Dining Room by Jennifer Hartnett-Henderson ©2014

And in the café, even the aquarium interior is a surprise:

Hotel Droog Cafe, Fish at the Table by Jennifer Hartnett-Henderson ©2014
Hôtel Droog Cafe, Fish at the Table by Jennifer Hartnett-Henderson ©2014

Tiny gold-fish eat algae off of the dinner table. Definitely not what I expected. Did you?

One of the things I like about travel is that is causes you to re-examine what’s necessary (to pack for example) and to open to new and different ways of doing/seeing/being. And that’s exactly what a visit to Droog will do for you.

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