Vincent and his partner M are great hosts: a warmhearted, generous couple interested in people, the world, art and culture. Our first conversation covered Soviet art (there's a portrait of Lenin hanging in the living room with a story behind it.. ), Portuguese Fado music (it was playing) and Brazilian primary color (it's on the walls) and Indian spices.

The room is tiny, the bed comfortable, with a desk and chair underneath. Enough to spend a night in, and the apartment as a whole is very charming, and they were large hearted enough to not put any rules down on paper and let me spill over into the lovely living room and balcony. The apartment is very clean, and open on both sides for a lot of light. There's the street on one side, and the building courtyard on the other, across which are the next row of balconies, where you see the neighbors, like a mini village within the city. So you're suddenly looking at Amsterdam inside out.

Although not in the center of the city, the apartment is extremely well connected, and you can walk a few minutes and get a tram (#12) which'll get you to the Rijksmuseum/ Stedelijk/ Van Gogh museum in 10 minutes. And it's great to be in a real neighborhood of people far away from the crazy crowds, trash and noise of the touristy parts. You're surrounded by apartments, hairdressers, bakeries, and a small supermarket, a shop crammed with second-hand scooters, a restaurant selling 100% halal pizzas for 5 euros, a dentist, an Assamese tour operator.. full of working-class people just going about their daily life.

And, they have wifi.