Thursday, July 22, 2010

Paradise found

The house in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, currently lodged in is near a park.
It is the famous "the Vondelpark" in the centre of the city.
Comparable to "Central Park" in New York.

Named after a famous Dutch poet, originally it was an estate of a rich family.
It was donated to the city of Amsterdam to be a public park.
And the family had another condition.
It had to be a park where dogs could walk freely.
In other parks, by law, dogs need to be on a leash.
But not in the Vondelpark.
People come from far with their dogs and let them run around completely free.
This makes happy dogs and it is a joy to see them running and playing feeling so happy to be liberated from the leash.
They do meet, the dogs, and because they are in a park and not on their home territory and because they are not on a leash they handle the situation very well.
They sniff each other and pirouette but rarely they fight.

The other remarkable aspect of the Vondelpark is that in Summer time people go there to sunbath.
They take blankets, foods and drinks, and find a place near one of the many lakes.
Contrary to other countries, alcohol is not forbidden in the park.
Nor marijuana.
Therefore often one can see people sitting on a blanket eating food and drinking wine or beer.
Or a group of people sitting peacefully passing around a joint.

It is also common to see people take a sunbath.
In the Vondelpark nudity therefore is common too.
There are people sunbathing naked and women topless.

There is a liberal atmosphere in the Vondelpark.
Not only the dogs feel free but the people too.
And there is no police around.
Only when something serious happens and they are called, they come.
But normally, in spite of the alcohol and drugs consumption and the nudity, the park is very peaceful.

Except for the planes passing overhead.
For economic reasons airplanes are allowed to pass over the city of Amsterdam at low altitudes to land at the international Schiphol airport.
Being peaceful in the park is therefore relative.
The planes make great noise.
This happens only when the wind is from the east.
If the wind is from any other direction, planes approach the airport with a different route.
And the park is a paradise.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

you didn't mention the beautiful parrots that have made the Vondel Park their home, and fly around freely sweeking and cawing, flying in flocks, and getting bigger and stronger each year. Bright grean and yellow with red rings around their eyes, they are a phenomenon.