Amsterdamse Bos

 

The Dutch are quite fond of their many parks and their long coastline. A Dutch park is a marvel of design. Most towns and cities in Holland have a large park making a border or buffer zone. The one south of Amsterdam is called the Amsterdamse Bos. These regional parks are a bit more wild than those found in the cities. Typically a large park will have various paths and roads, each one designed for a certain type of transport. You have your footpaths for pedestrians, usually dirt. Bicycle paths for bikes (fietspad), sometimes paved, sometimes dirt, horse trails with deep sand, and roads for automobiles. What’s amazing is that they all go in different directions, allowing visitors a unique experience depending upon their chosen mode of transport. Only occasionally do the paths and roads cross or join up for a short distance.

Many of these parks are also tree farms. So it’s not unusual to see one type of tree on one side of the path and another type in a different stage of growth on the other. Few parks have sections of native, unmanaged forest. Remember much of the land has been reclaimed and was once just sand! Besides bicycling, horseback riding and walking, the Dutch love to picnic or just lay out in the grass. If the day is sunny and warm, you can watch them peel off their clothes until they are partially or totally naked (yes, in public). Football (soccer) is the national sport and any field or grassy area is a likely spot for practice or a game.

Vondelpark

Amsterdam’s popular Vondelpark is a great place in summer to stroll, taking in the scene of people on rollerblades, playing football, picnicking, bicycling, sitting in the Film Museum’s cafe. You can walk around the lakes, listen to live music, or just sit and do nothing. It can be very crowded, but it’s always a joy.

Holland’s beaches are usually damp and chilly. On those rare warm sunny days, look out! The Dutch will stop whatever they’re doing (if they haven’t already called in sick) and make a bee-line for the beach. All business and commerce just about comes to a stop on those days as the cities seem deserted. All forms of transport heading to the beach are jammed packed and the beach itself swarms with sand to surf bodies. I could not believe the crowds! Unfortunately such an onslaught has its drawbacks. The most noticeable is the trash. The Dutch don’t seem to provide enough trash cans for these busy days (if you can find any!). So everyone just leaves their trash behind. What happens then makes ones heart sink. The tide comes in and carries thousands of plastic and metal cans and debris out to sea (I wonder where it all washes up!).

Nude beaches exist just at the edge of the most popular beach spots. Just walk beyond the crowd and as the bodies thin out so do the bathing suits. Even in the middle of the crowds it’s not unusual to see children completely naked (and not just tikes), and many, many topless women. Even young teenage girls have no qualms about baring their breasts! The sun is such a rare commodity in perpetually overcast Holland, that everyone exposes as much skin as possible when the opportunity presents itself.