Nowadays, when people talk about “the future”, it can encompass any number of distant time periods: Next year? After the pandemic? Ten years from now? Well, I was born in 1960, and when I was a kid, the future pretty much meant one thing: the year 2000. The new millennium was everyone’s common point of reference when we talked about…
The Amsterdam Forest is huge! It’s 2500 acres, which is about three times the size of Central Park in New York City. The place is famous for all it has to offer. There’s an area called De Bosbaan, which is a rowing course, for people who do recreational and competitive rowing. There are ponds for swimming, a man-made beach, camping…
I’ve visited Amsterdam many times over the past 20 years, and going to parks is a favorite activity of mine when I’m there, but I’ve managed to somehow miss this park over the years. Like most tourists, I tend to stick to the most popular parks – Vondelpark, Westerpark, and Oosterpark. Well, now that I’m not a tourist, I figured…
Sarphatipark – Named after the Jewish doctor and philanthropist Samuel Sarphati, this small park is a nice chunk of green space right in the middle of the trendy neighborhood, De Pijp. Not surprisingly, this is one of the first parks I explored when I visited Amsterdam, because it’s in De Pijp. This neighborhood is just south of the Centrum. It’s…
Beatrixpark is one of the oldest parks in Amsterdam, dating from the 1930s. It’s in the southern part of Amsterdam, south of The Pijp neighborhood. The park has lots of landscaped paths, a pool, a playground, and a really lovely pond. Although I’ve been to Amsterdam many times, I somehow managed to miss getting to this park. I finally visited…
When I’m in Amsterdam, I tend to spend most of my time in the Centrum. When I decide to go to a park, I usually hit the parks that are relatively close to the Centrum, like Westerpark and Vondelpark. But every now and then, I’ll go out a little further, especially when the weather is beautiful and my plans consist…
Vondelpark is undoubtedly the most well known park in Amsterdam, and probably the Netherlands. Located not far from the Rijksmuseum, Stedelijk Museum, and Van Gogh Museum, it gets tons of visitors every year. Although you can find quiet areas in the park to relax and chill out, that’s not why most people come here. This is a park for people…
Located just outside the Amsterdam centrum, but on the completely opposite side compared to Westerpark, is the lovely Oosterpark. This shouldn’t be surprising; WESTerpark is up in the northwest. OOSTerpark (“oost” means “east”) is in the southeast. It’s a big park, with lots of benches, a big lake, lots of birds, and a bunch of nice footbridges. Just as with…
As a retiree, I spend a lot of my time in parks. In New York City, where I live, I tend to alternate between four different parks, depending on my mood. My favorite is Tompkins Square Park, a quiet neighborhood park in the East Village with a low key, punky, edgy undercurrent. My next favorite is Washington Square Park, for…
Amsterdam is my favorite city. When I sold my veterinary practice and retired four years ago, I bought an apartment there, so I would have a place of my own to stay during my frequent visits. I had an especially great time there in August of 2019, first with my friend Robb who visited the first week of August during…
What a year. I knew, going into 2020, that it was going to be a tense, traumatic year. After all, it was an election year, and the thought that Donald Trump – the sleaziest, slimiest, most vile and corrupt president in the history of this nation – could be re-elected already guaranteed a high level of stress. Little did I…
Regular readers of my blog know that even though I retired from veterinary practice three years ago, I’ve remained active in the veterinary community. I still author the bimonthly “The Vet Is In” column for Catster magazine, and I still pop into Dr. Soboroff’s practice, New York Cat Hospital, every now and then to visit him and Dr. Sheheri and…
Arden Moore has been a long-time friend and has devoted her life to animals. I was recently on her podcast, “Oh Behave!” Make sure to catch the episode: https://www.petliferadio.com/behaveep398.html (click the play button on her site) Here’s here SOCIAL to follow along for future episodes and updates from Arden and Pet Life Radio: Twitter Facebook YouTube
Here in New York City, it seems as if everyone hails from somewhere else. In my social circle, native New Yorkers are a rare breed, but I’m proud to say that I’m the real thing. A Brooklynite, born and raised. I entered the world at Caledonian Hospital, in 1960. (Caledonian Hospital closed in 2003. It’s now a bunch of luxury…
In 2015, I sold my cat hospital, Manhattan Cat Specialists, to a corporation that owns and manages several veterinary clinics. I continued to work at my hospital, however, in June of 2017, I decided to retire from veterinary practice. My hospital continued on, in the very capable hands of Dr. Victoria Sheheri, and my faithful technician Hiromi Karagiannis, who started…