As I was talking about Blake's I realized that I hadn't included anything about our hotel in Amsterdam, the Pulitzer. Amsterdam has dozens of hotels in renovated canal houses that range from basic to superluxe, but each is quite charming. (They've also got the usual chains and a few grand dames as well, but the old canal mansions are heavy favorites here). The Pulitzer is probably the most famous of this type, but unfortunately much of the charm of the concept is destroyed by the hotel's size. The hotel is housed in a string of about a dozen old houses, and looks fantastic from the outside. The inside is a confusing maze, as you'd expect, so that was fine as well. But the public areas are too bland and corporatized, apart from a lovely courtyard open for breakfast and drinks. And the rooms were completely sanitized as well. We didn't take any photos of our room, which is indicative of how boring it was. I included the hotel's photo of a room, which is full of quirkiness, so either we got stuck with a bum room or they've completely overhauled the rooms, because our room bore no resemblance to this. We got a big suite, which sprawled across a few of the houses, and consequently was on several different levels. But that was the extent of the quirkiness, the rest was beige carpets and white walls, with some cheap looking furniture to highlight the room's ordinariness. I remember when my sister and I visited Amsterdam many years earlier,we stayed in a much cheaper B&B whose name escapes me, but it was perfectly preserved and utterly charming, a stark contrast to the blandness of the Pulitzer. overall-5 (Room-5, Facilities-6, Service-6).