How New Orleans and Amsterdam are Alike

Having visited Amsterdam, NL, I came away with the following observations on the similarties between New Orleans and Amsterdam:

• Both are below sea level. Canals, levees, dams and dikes everywhere to keep the city from going underwater.



• Both have a distinctive European feel -- Amsterdam, well, because its in Europe and New Orleans because it was once ruled by the French.



• Landmark church in the middle of the debauchery: Oude Kerk in the Red Light District vs. St. Louis Cathedral in the Vieux Carre (French Quarter)



• Napolean Bonapart installed the Netherlands government (led by his brother) in Amsterdam and installed a colonies (what was to become the Louisiana Purchase) government in New Orleans.



• Coffee shops on every corner (of course thats true of most American cities these days) and, well ok, the American and Dutch menus in this regard are a bit different.



• Amsterdam has boobs behind glass, New Orleans has boobs on balconies.

However, there is one major difference. . . the natives of Amsterdam speak English far better than the natives of New Orleans.