Put down the guidebook. However, since you can’t throw all caution to the wind, here are a few things I learned as an American visiting London for the first time.
Long famous as a bastion of social tolerance, Amsterdam has three red light districts, but it's the one in De Wallen, at the city center, that's best known to the world.
In an art-loving city that's well-known for its array of fantastic museums, 2013 marks the first time in more than a decade that Amsterdam's 3 biggest stars have all been open at once.