Filed under: featuredarticle, Outdoors & Recreation
Picnic in Vondelpark
Vondelpark is one of my favourite summer haunts. I spread out my picnic blanket, open the bottle of viña ducaro tinto (a nice way of saying red wine) bought at Hema department store at €3. The Hema also supplied me with mature Gouda cheese and crispy brown rolls sprinkled with sunflower seeds. A wonderful Côte d’Or chocolate bar is the right way to finish my picnic meal. I grab my cell phone and call my daughter. I am sure she’ll want to join me.
Vondelpark close to Leidseplein and Museumplein is hundreds of acres of green lawns sprinkled with colourful flowers, meandering footpaths and rose gardens. Geese and duck wonder about and flocks of resident parrots keep the crowds entertained. Joggers, kite-flyers, sun-bathers, Frisbee-throwers, cyclists and dog-walkers come to the park on sunny summer days.
Heineken picnic hamper
Vondelpark is named after Joost van den Vondel, 16th century poet and playwright. The Dutch answer to William Shakespeare. During the summer, the park hosts free musical performances in the open-air theatre, ranging from dance and cabaret to classical music and pop groups. They take place at the small amphiteatre and the music pavilion on an island near the centre of the park.
Plenty of playgrounds make Vondelpark a delight for families with children. The young ones love the petting zoo, home to goats and sheep. Teenagers, but also fathers and mothers, can rent skates and gloves and other protecting gear near the Amstelveenseweg entrance at the south-western side of the park.
If you have not brought your own picnic, ‘t Ronde Blauwe Theehuis, the Round Blue Tea House, serves light snacks impossible to resist. How about goat cheese, with walnuts, honey and crispy lollo rosso or apple-cinnamon muffin washed down with fresh mint tea. ‘t Ronde Blauwe Theehuis was built in the 1930s and looks like a flying saucer.
WHAT: Hema DepartmentstoreVondelpark is open every day of the year and the best thing of all: it is FREE!
QUICK FACTS:
WHAT: Het Blauwe Theehuis
WHERE: Vondelpark 5 ()
opening hours
Mond –Wed 9 am – 6 pm
Thu 9 am – 11 pm
Sat 9 am – 1 am and Sun 9 am – 10 pm
WHERE: Sloterkade 133,
opening hours: 9 am- 6 pm, closed on Sunday
Another Hema Store, closer to the centre
WHAT: Regulierbreestraat 20,
opening hours: daily 8 am – 10 pm
WHAT: Openlucht theater (open-air theatre)
WHERE: near van Eeghenstraat entrance,
WHEN: July and August
Photo credit: personal collection
