cities filled with the foolish

I love weird traditions that make entire continents laugh, or groan, or both. Like the Eurovision Song Contest, or April Fools' Day.

Or ones that don't raise an eyebrow almost anywhere in the world but are in fact utterly ridiculous when you think about it, like Santa Claus.

I mean, April Fools' Day, how bizarre is that? I'm sitting in a hostel in Helsinki with my laptop, chewing on a cereal bar and laughing at a round-up of today's newspaper jokes. The world is making fun of itself, for once. And when I'm done, it seems to me that the world is a better place on the first of April.