Please Spare The Comparison! by Ciambella
Many guidebooks and travel related sites have called Amsterdam by the name Venice of the North. This is so far from being accurate.Granted, Venice has canals and Amsterdam also has canals, but that is where the similarity begins and ends. Besides the canals, there is nothing in Amsterdam that brings to mind the image of Venice, and even the canals in Amsterdam are so much different from Venice they should not be the object of a comparison.
Unlike in Venice, you do not find any gondola on the canals in Amsterdam and you do not hear stripped shirts and straw hats adorned gondoliers singing Volare ad alta voce. Unlike in Venice, there are trees lining the canals and there are people who live a normal life on the water of Amsterdam. Unlike in Venice, the residents of Amsterdam do not rely on water transportation for trash pick up, goods delivered, and funeral procession. Unlike in Venice, the water in Amsterdam canals is controlled and there is not a chance for it to flood the streets. Completely opposite with the situation in Venice, the brilliant minds of the Netherlands engineers have prevented the houses near the canals in Amsterdam from being smelly, water ruined, mouldy, and decayed. And last but certainly not least, unlike Venice, the future of Amsterdam is not imperilled.
Even with the enormous amount of 12,000 bridges and 160 canals, the water in Amsterdam enhances the residents' life while the water that flows in the 150 canals and under the 400 bridges in Venice restricts it. There are trams, buses, cars, and as many bicycles as inhabitants in Amsterdam. This is a city like all other cities, a city that possesses its own character and does not need a borrowed one.
Amsterdam is Amsterdam, and not Venice of the North. Please do not deprive this beautiful city of its own image and identity.
