Any one of the elements that meld to form Amsterdam's special character would be enough to create a memorable setting. Its thousands of magnificent 17th-century buildings, strung along its web of canals crossed by more than a thousand bridges; its situation below sea-level in a place where, by rights, cold North Sea waves should flow back and forth; the centuries-long tradition of tolerance that made the city a magnet for oppressed minorities long before such a stance became fashionable, or even imaginable, elsewhere; the refusal to settle for what outsiders consider right and proper, but instead the search for solutions to all kinds of social challenges, from prostitution, to drug use and abuse; and how to live harmoniously in a melting pot society. The city's often eccentric lifestyle has a downside, and not everybody takes to its free and easy ways. One thing is sure, though: you'll never be bored.