Alexia and I found out that we are sleeping a block away from the most famous park in all of Holland called Vondelpark. It is enormous, more than 4 kilometers long. It has a canal that winds through it and lots of ancient looking trees, pathways, little bridges and huge open spaces. It always seems to be full of people, too, laying out in tall, unmowed grass under the sun, playing soccer and eating and drinking wine. Yep, strolling through the park you will see corked wine bottles sticking out of the grass next to almost every group of people. You see, drinking in public is allowed here and for some reason the people are better behaved about it than we generally are in the states on a weekend night.
They do have their prohibitions, though. Cars are not allowed in the park even though it takes about a 30 minutes to walk through it. Only bikes, mopeds and motorcycles. So, what you typically see are large groups of families and friends on bikes together ringing their bells and carring groceries and wine bottles in their baskets on their way to a picnic by a canal under a willow tree. It´s quite idyllic. In fact, everything about this whole city seems like a fairyland to me. It is a magical place regardless of any sober or inebriated state of mind you may find yourself in. Have I said that I love this country yet?