http://www.blameitonrioja.com/2008/07/16/more-on-outdoor-wine-drinkingand-a-toast-to-hans/ Tue, 6 Jan 2009 19:58:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 http://www.blameitonrioja.com/2008/07/16/more-on-outdoor-wine-drinkingand-a-toast-to-hans/comment-page-1/#comment-15558 Abadia Retuerta’s English Blog » Archives » European Picnic Laws and the Fashionable Paper Bag Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:58:46 +0000 http://www.blameitonrioja.com/2008/07/16/more-on-outdoor-wine-drinkingand-a-toast-to-hans/#comment-15558 [...] I recently read a post on Blame it on Rioja (reacting in turn to a post on Dr Vino) about New York City and the (il)legal and practical applications of drinking a bottle of wine while enjoying the city’s many concerts, movies, and other outdoor summer events. He mentions the friendly mockery of a Swiss friend living in Spain, laughing at having seen Americans carrying bottles around in brown paper bags – hobo style – to avoid detection by the law which in theory takes a more lenient approach to the city’s “no open container” law in the summer months. And while I wish that I could jump on that bandwagon of derisive European headshaking at the puritanical and restrictive attitudes of American laws, I must confess that in Madrid the legal rigmarole surrounding drinking in the street is actually quite similar. While I can’t speak for all of Spain, a few years ago the government of the capital city launched a new alcohol law that seriously restricted what we once considered a right, nay, a characteristic of European life itself! [...] [...] I recently read a post on Blame it on Rioja (reacting in turn to a post on Dr Vino) about New York City and the (il)legal and practical applications of drinking a bottle of wine while enjoying the city’s many concerts, movies, and other outdoor summer events. He mentions the friendly mockery of a Swiss friend living in Spain, laughing at having seen Americans carrying bottles around in brown paper bags – hobo style – to avoid detection by the law which in theory takes a more lenient approach to the city’s “no open container” law in the summer months. And while I wish that I could jump on that bandwagon of derisive European headshaking at the puritanical and restrictive attitudes of American laws, I must confess that in Madrid the legal rigmarole surrounding drinking in the street is actually quite similar. While I can’t speak for all of Spain, a few years ago the government of the capital city launched a new alcohol law that seriously restricted what we once considered a right, nay, a characteristic of European life itself! [...]

]]>