Here’s the first of two videos I have done while in Amsterdam for the PICNIC conference, which has been taking place in the picturesque Netherlands city for the past few days.

In it, BoomTown bikes along the canals to the interesting event, which is being held until the end of today at the Westergasfabriek, a renovated facility that was formerly a gas factory.

And I found out quickly that the digital Dutch are very different from the geeks in Silicon Valley–with birds, unusual art installations and more, which they mix extravagantly and very creatively with Web technologies.

At the end of the video is a snippet of a speech at PICNIC by Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen and an interview I did with PICNIC’s Program Director Monique van Dusseldorp.

Here’s the video: