Amsterdamse Bos  The Amsterdamse Bos (English: "Amsterdam Forest") is an English park or landscape park in the municipalities of Amstelveen and Amsterdam. Although most of the park is located in Amstelveen, the owner of the park is the City of Amsterdam. The park was mainly built in the early 1930s, mostly by the unemployment relief. Because of World War II interrupting the building process, the last tree was not planted until the 1970s. Annually, almost 4.5 million people visit the park, which has a size of and is approximately three times the size of Central Park in New York City. It houses a number of animal parks, sporting clubs, rowing courses, gardens and remembrance monuments. Throughout the decades, the location has seen different gatherings, political manifestations and (i.a., free) concerts. These often took place on the so-called "Vietnam Meadow". Despite extensive protests, this part was turned into a tennis venue in 1994. The park is bisected (but can not be reached by) the A9 motorway. An important part of the park is the rowing course called de Bosbaan ("Forest course"), which was opened in 1937. The course was an alternative for rowing on the Amstel river, or on the canal surrounding the polder of the Haarlemmermeer, which were the two traditional locations for rowing competition. It is the world's oldest artificial rowing course. In 1977 it hosted the World Rowing championships. In order to meet international competition regulation, the Bosbaan was widened to 118 meters (8 lanes for competition and an additional preparation lane). In 2014 the Bosbaan hosted the World Rowing Championship for a second time. There are several open areas and meadows within the forest. Some of which are located along an artificial beach along ponds and have sanitary, food and children's play facilities for summertime recreation. One of the open areas is bordered by a man-made hill. The area of the park called "Zonneweide" is an area designated for naturist recreation. There are several ponds and streams that can be used for swimming. There is a sand beach along a part of "Grote Vijver" pond. Weather conditions permitting, the water in the "Groot Kinderbad" children's paddling pool is activated from May until September. "Geitenboerderij Riddammerhoeve" is a goat farm. Next to offering simple food dishes and making goat milk-based dairy products on site, it offers a petting zoo with goats, a playground and a maze.